THE 



ROMANCE OF YACHTING 



fcogage t\)t JTit0t. 



BY JOSEPH C. HART, 

ft 

AUTHOR OF "MIRIAM COFFIN," &C 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 
1848. 



.Hi 



£t>^ ^ 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in year 1848, 

By Joseph C. Hart, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
of New-York. 



4g. 1 



CONTENTS OF "VOYAGE THE FIKST." 



CHAPTER I.— The battery, 

II. — The yacht "restless," 1616, 
III. — Yachting, the true dolce far niente, 
IV. — Where shall igo! The question canvass- 
ed, AND THE OLD WORLD PASSED IN REVIEW, 
V. — A GLANCE TOWARDS SPAIN, . . . 

VI. — The yacht "j. doolittle smith," 

VII. — Concerning the dunnage or a yachter, 

VIII. — The captain's lady and the wind adverse, 

IX. — The journal and the log. — the first day . 
the second day, 
the third day, 
the fourth day, 
the fifth day, 
the sixth day, 
the seventh day, 
the eighth day, 
the ninth day, 
the tenth day, 
the eleventh day, 
the twelfth day, 
the thirteenth day, 
the fourteenth day, 
the fifteenth day, 
the sixteenth day, 
the seventeenth day, 
the eighteenth day, 
the nineteenth day, 
the twentieth day, 
the twenty-first day, 
the twenty-second day, 



Pago 

9 

17 

44 

49 

57 

64 

67 

73 

76 

78 

79 

82 

83 

84 

87 

89 

91 

92 

96 

97 

98 

98 

99 

99 

101 

102 

103 

104 

105 

107 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. — THE TWENTY-THIRD DAY, 

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY, 
THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY, 
THE TWENTY-SIXTH DAY, 
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY, 
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY, 
THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY, 
THE THIRTIETH DAY, 
THE THIRTY-FIRST DAY, 
THE THIRTY-SECOND DAY, 
THE THIRTY-THIRD DAY, 
THE THIRTY-FOURTH DAY, 
THE THIRTY-FIFTH DAY, 
THE THIRTY-SIXTH DAY, 
THE THIRTY-SEVENTH DAY, 
ABSTRACT OF THE VOYAGE, 

CHAPTER X. — Cadiz outside the walls, 

XL — Life upon the mole of cadiz, 

XII. — Cadiz inside the walls, 

XIII. — The ALAMEDA, 

XIV. — Saint John's eve. — Spanish women, 

XV. — The guard and the taverna, 

XVI. — Yachting to port st. mary, 

THE BULL-FIGHT AT ST. MARY'S, 
BULL "FYTTE" THE FIRST, 
BULL " FYTTE" THE SECOND, . 
BULL " FYTTE" THE THIRD, . 
THE ANCIENT LETHE, 
RODERICK, THE LAST KING OF THE 
THE POSADA AT ST. MARY'S, . 
ST. ANTHONY'S NOSE, 

CHAPTER XVII. — Showing how to navigate a yacht across 

THE ATLANTIC, OR ELSEWHERE, 

TO ASCERTAIN THE LATITUDE, 
TO ASCERTAIN THE LONGITUDE, 
TABLE OF LENGTHS OF DEGREES OF LONGITUDE, 
TABLE FOR ASCERTAINING THE DISTANCE OF OB- 
JECTS AT SEA, 

CHAPTER XVIII. — Vocabulary of sea terms or nautical 



GOTHS, 



Page 
107 
109 
112 
112 
113 
113 
114 
124 
127 
127 
128 
129 
129 
129 
133 
138 

139 

144 

152 

156 

162 

168 

175 

183 
194 
198 
199 
207 
243 
275 
285 

291 

294 
296 
304 

305 



PHRASES, 306 



PREFACE TO "VOYAGE THE FIRST." 



This Volume of the Romance of Yachting will probably fall into 
the hands of most persons of intelligence going to sea, whether 
for pleasure or professionally ; and it is likely, also, that it will 
form an addition to nautical libraries generally. It is proper, 
therefore, at the outset, for the author to speak of the design of 
the work. 

It has been framed mainly with a view to call the attention of 
Yachters, to the several phenomena ordinarily occurring at sea 
and on ship-board ; but it is by no means so closely confined to 
nautical matters and technicalities, that landsmen may not read 
it with profit, and, it is hoped, with interest. The old and expe- 
rienced seaman may, haply, also peruse it with amusement and 
indulgence ; and the younger branch of the same profession with 
instruction. 

It is the first of a series ; yet each volume will be complete in 
itself, and treat of separate subjects and events. They will there- 
fore be independent of each other. The volume which will 
succeed this in the series, will be less miscellaneous, and will 
embrace much curious historical matter relating to Spain, that 
could not be included in " Voyage the First" without swelling 
the volume beyond the dimensions originally intended, and inter- 
fering with the design of this work. 

The subject of Yachting is getting to be one of considerable 



6 PREFACE. 

interest in our Atlantic cities ; and he who contributes to the en- 
couragement of its true spirit, deserves, himself, to be encouraged. 
Yachting does not consist, entirely, in knowing how to handle a 
vessel ; but its scope is far beyond the mere technicality of sea- 
manship, and reaches the information and amusement one may find 
on the voyage, as well as when he arrives in distant countries. 

In England, with the Queen for patroness and exemplar, 
Yachting has come to be quite a systematic affair ; and it is not 
unusual to find splendid and well-appointed English Yachts, some- 
times of several hundred tons in burthen, cruising in all the tem- 
perate seas of Europe. These are expensive appendages of the 
wealthy. Those who can afford them, however, and have leisure 
for the enjoyment of travel by sea, possess a command over sight- 
seeing and rational indulgence which is truly enviable. 

In America, however, the same things, I mean Yachts and 
Yachting, are within our easy reach, and may be carried to the 
same extent abroad, with far less pecuniary outlay. The same 
objects also, very nearly, and with less anxiety perhaps, may be 
attained by means of our countless Packet-Ships and Ocean- 
Steamers, which are in fact the most superb and spacious Yachts 
in the world. 

To sail systematically, to travel systematically, with an intel- 
lectual profit beyond that of the mere voyage itself, ought to be 
the aim of all Yachters. And with the view of contributing 
something to the easy attainment of both those objects, this volume 
is offered to the perusal of those who venture upon the sea. 
Whether they sail as passengers, or partake of the practical duties 
of their craft, the hints and matters contained herein may possi- 
bly meet with their approval. 

The further design of the volume will become more apparent 
by inspection of its pages, which the author places before the pub- 



PREFACE. 



lie with a much greater degree of confidence than he otherwise 
would, arising from the fact that he has already, in another work 
of a similar nature, received the kind indulgence and approba- 
tion of discriminating readers. Though a semi-romance of the 
sea, it has long been regarded as being closely historical : and 
he is not without hope that this work may eventually receive a 
like consideration from his countrymen. 

Among the incidental subjects treated of in this volume, there 
are several favorite and prevailing historical assumptions, which 
the author has made the objects of his dissent. He however holds 
himself responsible, for all his opinions, at the bar of enlightened 
and manly criticism. The subjects thus considered, and to 
which he invites the reader to apply historical tests, are these : — 
The precedence claimed for the Puritans in the introduction here 
of " freedom, religion, and civilization :" — The misrepresenta- 
tions of Spanish female character and the character of the Span- 
ish people generally : — The original cause of the invasion of 
Spain by the Moors, in modern times supposed to be attributable 
to the violence done to the daughter of Julian : — And the position 
generally assigned to Shakspeare as a superior literary genius. 
The arrogance and wantonness of British writers, in regard to 
this country, are by no means forgotten among the other inci- 
dental matters. 

But whatever may be the fate or influence of these opinions, 
founded, as the author believes, on facts and history, he sincerely 
hopes that, upon a perusal of his work, his countrymen will regard 
the people of Spain, and Spain itself, with more favor than is their 
present wont; and that they will more frequently turn their 
attention, in travelling, to a country which they have neglected 
to their own great loss and disadvantage. 

New-York, ) 
Oct. 19, 1848. S 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING, 



CHAPTER I . 



THE BATTERY. 



Who has not sauntered upon the Battery, that pleasantest 
breathing-place of the noblest city in America 1 Who has 
not there, at some time or other, reviewed the affairs of his 
life in sober earnest, and, in its inviting shades, taken in wis- 
dom with the atmosphere, and made some new resolution for 
his future government ? I had spent many years in almost 
unremitted toil, when the Spring of the year 1846 opened 
upon me, and found me, one day, relieved from labor, and 
enjoying the pure air that always blows in upon that incom- 
parable Alameda, which overlooks the finest expanse of water 
in America, perhaps the finest in the world. 

This green spot, this Oasis skirting the confines of huge 
piles of regulated brick and mortar, (which twice, however, 
by the desolation of fire, within a period of ten years, nearly 
emulated the desert ruins of Babylon,) is so familiar to Ameri- 
cans, that I need scarcely to say it stands where the mag- 

1* 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



nificent Hudson mingles its waters with those of the bold Hell- 
Gate Strait, miscalled a river, which comes in to join it from 
the imposing Sound of Long Island — and then both are lost in 
a bay of vast extent and grandeur, spreading out, like a 
mirror, before the great city of New- York. 

City of incongruous name, but of exceeding loveliness ! 
The voice of a Knickerbocker craves to be heeded, while 
speaking of the present fame and future destiny of this cher- 
ished and glorious metropolis, and also while he shows that 
there is an unseemly blot upon her escutcheon, a bar-sinister, 
which he is zealously endeavoring to rub out. New- York is 
no longer New. She is getting Old fast. She is the oldest 
city in America planted by our race ; and the anomaly of 
" Old New- York" will, one of these days, become a grating 
sound upon American ears. Besides, it is far from pleasant 
to remember that she is called after no honorable name ; but 
after an unprincipled and degraded prince of England, who 
was so unutterably mean that he was literally hissed out of 
his own country. When, in the course of human events, the 
Duke of York became James II. of England, Hume, the slavish 
apologist of royalty, and the partisan historian of his presump- 
tuous father, Charles I. of infamous memory, is constrained 
to admit that he was whistled out of his realm to the tune of 
" a merry ballad, called Lilliballero." There could have been 
no "lower deep" to his unworthiness, when Englishmen 
could bring themselves to contemn Royalty in his person, 
and turn up their noses at the " Lord's anointed "—for thus 
he proclaimed himself, and spat upon the people. Nero and 
Domitian received the treatment of gentlemen from the 
indignant Romans, when compared with the contemptuous 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



indignation heaped by Englishmen upon the head of the 
besotted and arrogant James II., for similar tyrannical 
offences. He must, therefore, have been despicable indeed. 
We alone, freemen and no lovers of kings, compel ourselves 
to uphold his hated impress, and to transmit it from age to 
age. Are we not possessed by some indescribable awe of the 
past, or imbued with an unpardonable reverence for antiquity ? 
Certes, we have already retained the name of York too 
long ; and all intelligent Americans will give you reasons in 
detail, plenty as blackberries, for its discontinuance. I 
never think of it but as a badge of colonial slavery, which 
we ought long ago to have erased forever. 

Our Indian title, " Manhattan," is infinitely more ap- 
propriate and euphonious than the uncouth and unmeaning 
sound which was suffered to supersede it. The " Children 
of the Whirlpool"* shall yet see their ancient name of 
Manhattan restored ! The restoration to the loved original, 
when we shall no longer feel that we are " new," may easily 
be effected by the action of our citizens. Who will frame 
and present the memorial to our Legislature ? It should be 
done before we are told " it is too late ;" and when done, we 
will soon forget, and so will the world, that our city was ever 
called New-York. 

The name of our great State, which has deservedly re- 
ceived the honorable distinction of the Empire State by 
universal consent, should also be changed for something 



* Manhattan-uk— the People of the Whirlpool ; in reference to our 
dwelling near the remarkable and well-known maelstrom in the east- 
ern channel leading to the city. — Schoolcraft, 



12 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

permanent and significant of her greatness. It should be 
accomplished by all the forms and solemnities of legislation. 
I am content that the title of u Empire State" should stand, 
if confirmed by legislative action ; but, until that is accom- 
plished, there are others that press upon us for consideration 
— such as u Ontario," and " Niagara," — aboriginal names 
of power, and, like " Manhattan," belonging to us from the 
beginning. But at any rate, whatever may be the substitute, 
the name of " New- York " should be brazed out and discard- 
ed, to all intents and purposes, preparatory to the adoption 
of one that our people would delight to honor. 

When our territory had been piratically wrested from our 
ancestors by the English, in a time of profound peace, after 
the unjust and truly Anglo-Saxon manner in which that nation 
obtains all its territories, the city and what is now the state 
were, alike, called by the Duke of York after himself; and 
it required only his mighty fiat to change the title in a single 
day. The change may again be made quite as easily by 
ourselves. Both city and territory were named with no 
reference whatever to the ancient shire and town of England ; 
so that we have no apology for not discarding the surrepti- 
tious designation — no affectionate traditionary reminiscences 
to urge for its retention. 

O, shade of the brave Baron Steuben, and ghost of that 
nameless surveyor-general, your worthy compatriot, while 
you were naming our young towns and our incipient counties 
after the Senecas and Manliuses, and Ciceros and Pompeys, 
(you happily forgot Cesar and Nero,) why did you not think 
of Manhattan and Ontario as substitutes for the name of the 
meanest of England's nobility, which you found entailed 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



upon us, and could have removed, while you were about it, 
with a single dash of the pen ! 

If the reader accuses me of being in an ill-humor while I 
write, he does me great injustice, though the last few lines 
may seem to wear an angry appearance. I am " historically 
serious," but not out of temper; and yet, somewhat over- 
worked, I confess that on the day referred to, I felt very 
much in the mood of a certain writer for the English stage, 
who, worn and jaded with delving in his vocation, coveted 
" a week of luxurious sloth in the country," and " an hour 
of virtuous liberty n to make the statutes withal, whereby he 
might declare it a high misdemeanor to mention " pen, ink, 
or paper" in his presence. George Colman was evidently 
a-weary of the pen when he said that. I, too, was fatigued 
with the too constant use of the same wondrous instrument, 
and disgusted with turning over the leaves of musty cases 
illustrating the humbug of the law, or rather the humbug of 
learned decisions, reversing one another with an alternation 
quite refreshing to suitors, and indicative of that glorious 
uncertainty which has long since passed into a proverb. 

In fact, I was just in that expectant state of readiness and 
condition to be amused with any thing that might turn up, 
provided it did not savor of the perfume of the law ; and, like 
Sterne, I was determined to be pleased, I knew not why, nor 
cared wherefore. So I sat down on one of the rude seats 
furnished by our city fathers, cut and hacked all over by 
the jack-knives of thousands of idle people who had enjoyed 
that privilege before me ; and there I inhaled at my lei- 
sure the balmy and invigorating air of the early spring- 
time. 



TEE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Bright, rosy children were gambolling over the grass. 
Little girls, with their lovely locks streaming down their 
backs in ringlets, were running along the paths, after their 
hoops, and chasing them " like a streak." The fine old 
trees, under which I was reposing, had put forth their buds, 
and they had already swelled and unfolded ; and the young 
and trembling leaves overhead were just then taking their 
transition to maturity, but had not yet sufficiently expanded 
to keep the sun from coming in between and marking them 
down, with their slightly serrated edges clearly denned on the 
clean-swept pathway before me. 

The birds, too, smelling no gunpowder, and seeing no 
Cockney " sportsman " about, with his big jack-boots, 
double-barrelled gun, and a brace of dogs at his heels, kept 
high-holiday aloft in the branches; and one glorious little 
fellow near me, a bob-link for certain, beat the rest all 
hollow, and shouted his music and piped his trills so joyously, 
that I almost feared he would crack his tiny throat with the 
ambitious effort. I wonder if birds ever get the fashionable 
bronchitis ? 

The bay, sparkling in sunshine, was slightly ruffled by a 
bashful and gently-kissing southern breeze. It bore upon its 
bosom the myriad sails of our commerce, some shaping for 
the sea and silently bidding farewell for a brief season ; others, 
more boldly squared, and swelling out joyfully, were turned 
homeward, bearing to our shores the riches of a tributary 
world ; while our swift steamboats, rivals for the empire of 
the sea, and almost monopolizing our inland waters, were 
parting here and there, in a prodigious hurry to get through 
with their daily and hourly undertakings. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



There go, and there come the mighty ships ! What tales 
of distant lands do they tell ! We follow them, in the spirit, 
and the imagination divides itself into a thousand perfect 
souls of immateriality, all revelling at once in the wonders and 
beauties of climes afar off. The soul of intelligence takes in 
the whole, and is not a creature confined to the narrow limits 
of a single idea. It is immortal, partaking of the Creator, 
and is therefore, as it were, omniscient and present every 
where, and capable of the highest species of enjoyment. It 
looks over the globe by its attributes. 

And thus this enchanting scene, animated to the eye and 
somewhat to the ear, was quiet, and subdued and consoling, 
though within a few squares of the busiest part of the busiest 
city in the universe. Three-fourths of the immense com- 
merce of America are transacted here, and the exchanges of 
the world will ere long be regulated upon our counters. 
How can it be otherwise than the busiest of cities 1 Amidst 
the constant encroachments, called improvements, ever going 
on in this ancient city, before which our old but unvenerated 
historical land-marks are constantly bowing and being razed, 
and the temples of a past age are turned into the dens of the 
money-changers, innovation has as yet spared this charming 
spot ; and its old trees are suffered to grow on and extend 
their roots, fortunate, for us, if they escape the annual 
curtailment of branches, to which they are barbarously 
doomed by the unskilful. How often have I remonstrated 
with the three Vandals, who go about like cutters of cord- 
wood, slashing and lopping and sawing away at the branches 
of those trees, by authority! The last answer I received 
from one of them was characteristic. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



" We can't help it, sir," said lie 5 " we are hired by the 
day to trim the trees, and we must earn our money. I say, 
Bob, saw off that big branch there ; it makes the tree look 
lop-sided !" 

Accordingly down came one of the healthiest and largest 
arms of the finest of elms. But, barring this savage mutila- 
tion, the Battery to me is a jewel of inestimable value ; and 
when the promised fountains shall send up their mighty 
streams hereabout, I am sure that I may safely challenge 
the world to produce its equal, in a like combination of 
fortunate locality and loveliness. 

Moored off the Battery, and within the cast of a biscuit, 
lay a fleet of gay pleasure Yachts, which could not fail to 
attract my attention ; and, in the end, the subject of Yacht- 
ing gave me a good deal to think about — but, by your leave, 
gentle reader, I will give you the results in another chapter. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE YACHT " RE STL ESS." 1616. 

The history of our Yachting begins with the earliest annals 
of this country. Yachting, singularly enough, lies at the 
foundation of our State enterprise, and our civilization ; and 
the subject naturally revives a portion of our much-neglected 
early history. It is connected, too, with a curious question, 
recently started by our eastern neighbors, involving State 
precedence ; and, as a thing of course, the Knickerbockers 
are made to play second in the discussion — that is, until we 
choose to speak for ourselves and vindicate our priority. 
This is easily done; but the game is hardly worth the 
powder, and to conquer such unscrupulous antagonists brings 
no accession of glory. As a matter of State pride, however, 
the question may be worth setting right, else, perhaps, we 
may shortly find ourselves, u by construction," entirely de- 
prived of the distinctive character bequeathed to us by our 
ancestors. 

We have been too busy, and too successful in trade and 
merchandise, in steamboats, canals, and railroads, in ships 
and cotton, tobacco and molasses, to regard the day of our 



18 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

small beginnings as worthy of the dignity of history. The 
consequence is that our cunning neighbors, writing histories 
for us, are running away with our materials, picking up and 
appropriating the scraps, that, when aggregated, make up 
the early years of our national character, and weaving them 
into their own peculiar annals. 

Thus, while we were in fact the pioneer settlers of this 
continent, and gave life and impulse to every movement that 
proved successful on this side of the broad Atlantic, the 
selfish and mendacious spirit of Puritanism, which still 
lurks among us, is marking us down for " New England's 
eldest daughter !" Verily the bones of the early Knicker- 
bockers will rise up in judgment against us, if we, their 
children, do not come to the rescue, and redeem our fair 
State from the undeserved and offensive imputation, of being 
the Puritanic daughter of our younger sister ! 

Let us hear one of these New England orators and 
travelling historians, while he holds forth among us at 
the Tabernacle, on the 22d of December, 1846, and dis- 
courses of the "Landing of the Pilgrims," on that "cold, 
barren rock of Plymouth." 

From the " Pioneers of New- York," a powerful and well- 
written work of Mr. C. F. Hoffman, I extract the following 
curious piece of Puritanic history, as I find it introduced 
by that gentleman. 

'In the first place, says Mr. Hoffman, I must attempt to 
meet a statement made by a learned gentleman, when last 
year addressing a large, enlightened, and influential associa- 
tion of descendants of the Puritans, from the spot where I 
now stand, [the Tabernacle.] The learned gentleman, emi- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 19 



nent in New England letters, representing the Puritanic 
stock on that occasion, proclaimed to his brethren of the 
New England Society here in New- York, and through them 
to the New- York public, that 

" Although some few settlements, and attempts at settle- 
ment, might have been previously made in America, yet the 
22d of December, 1620, when the Pilgrims of the Mayflower 
landed at Plymouth, ought to be dated the actual opening 
of this Continent." 

'He likewise, continues Mr. Hoffman, was understood to 
ascribe the introduction of " freedom, religion, and 
civilization," exclusively to the same Puritanic origin.' 

Cool impudence, and falsification of history ! Pure Puri- 
tanic mendacity ! 

Had we centuries to spare, instead of a' few years, how 
easily, by this unscrupulous mode of appropriation, might 
these envious and selfish men emulate the Egyptian historians 
in fame, who in attempting to pluck the priority of the 
attainment of civilization, and the invention of letters, from 
the Phenicians, caused the remark to become current that 
" a century was nothing with a historian, when a favorite 
theory was to be established." The Phenicians, like our- 
selves, were too busy with the commerce of the world, 
planting colonies and extending civilization, to spend their 
time in writing histories ; and so they left the writing of 
their history to the indolent Egyptians, and the Egyptians 
robbed them of their birth-right. 

Happily our Historical Society, by its recent translations 
of ancient Dutch documents, and the industry of such pure- 
minded and able men as Hoffman, Brodhead, De Witt, and 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



others, have furnished me with apt means to place this 
question of precedence as well as that of State character, in 
their true position. 

If points of history are worth being stated at all, they 
are worth being stated fairly. The imaginary theory and 
assumptions of these New England people, which are not 
only uttered in pulpits and in lecture-rooms, but are finding 
their way into our elementary school books, appear to be 
meant so seriously of late, that we can no longer treat them 
as jokes beneath contempt. Such is the force of repetition 
and habit, that even their authors begin to believe in their 
truth. 

Thus stating the case, we are alike put in the posture of 
defence and vindication. If we administer punishment also, 
it must be recollected that we are provoked to the encounter. 

I find myself standing on the spot where the first vessel 
was built in America, or on " this Continent." It furnished 
evidence, as I have already said, of the priority of our 
enterprise, and a pregnant portent, foreshadowing our future 
history. But I must take care, it seems, that the Battery, 
whereon I stand, is not shortly overlaid and covered up with 
the Rock of Plymouth! So, using such defences and 
weapons as we have at hand, let us take to our tools 
chronologically. 

1609. In this year the gallant Hendrick Hudson, in a 
vessel of eighty tons, entered and explored our harbor. 
After sailing up the Great North River, (which now bears 
his name,) as far as Albany, the head of tide water, and 
having abundant intercourse with the natives, and taking 
possession of the country in the name of his employers, the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 21 



Hollanders, (then the most active, wealthy, and enterprising 
commercial people in the world,) he left our waters. The 
interesting journal of his voyage, kept by his mate, is 
preserved among the Dutch records of that period. The 
wedge of our history was entered here, and " this Continent " 
begins to " open." 

The Puritans, or Brownists, so called, about this time 
sought and obtained a refuge among the tolerant Dutch of 
Holland. They dreamed of no other enterprise, and were 
content to remain a peculiar people, zealous only of religious 
disputation. 

" When the Puritans first went to Holland, they were 
known by the name of Brownists. The plan they set out 
upon was not to make a great colony in a little time, but to 
preserve a pure and distinct congregation."* 

The nautical enterprise and the abundant maritime 
resources of the Dutch, whose navy, according to Sir Walter 
Raleigh, numbered ten ships to one for that of England, 
gave them pre-eminent advantages over that of all other 
nations in examining the indented coast of the whole Atlantic 
sea-board of America, and selecting the most eligible points 
for such colonies as they chose to plant. f 

"One Dutch commercial establishment alone, without 
the aid of the Provincial or Federal Government of the 
United Provinces, could equip a fleet of fifty sail of the 

Line."t 

And thus it appears that our ancestors possessed the most 
ample means for colonization, and the result shows that they 

* Hutchinson. f Hoffman. { Basnage. 



22 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

entered upon that great design with a determined spirit, and 
with the most complete success. \ 

1612. They, the Dutch, had in 1612 a town and fort, 
now New- York; and in 1614 a town and fort near Al- 
bany.* 

1613. The further progress of the vast and important 
discoveries of the Dutch, during this year, embracing the 
entire coast of New England, New-York, and New Jersey, 
with their sounds, harbors, and rivers, will appear more at 
large by the following record. 

1614. On Saturday the 11th of October, 1614, five 
years after Hendrick Hudson, in a vessel of eighty tons bur- 
then, had sailed up to the head of tide-water on the river 
which bears his name, there appeared before a meeting of 
the States-General convened at the Hague, the Deputies of 
the United Company of Merchants of the United Provinces. 
They stated that at great expense and heavy damage to 
themselves, arising from the loss of vessels during the last 
year, [1613,] they had with five ships, owned by them, 
discovered and explored certain new lands in America, 
between New France and Virginia, which they called New 
Netherland. They at the same time presented a map of 
the newly-discovered country, f 

This, says Mr. Brodhead, marks the first official recog- 
nition of the existence of New Netherland ; its name occurs, 
for the first time, in the grant which was made to these 
merchants to plant here a colony. 

Of the ships engaged in the exploration, which first gave 

* Duiilap. t Hoffman. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 33 



a map of our eoast to the world, one was commanded 
by John De Witt, another by Adrian Block, a third by 
Cornelius May. An island in the Hudson River long bore 
the name of the first of these gallant sailors, and Block 
Island, and Cape May to this day tell us who were the 
hardy mariners who first explored them. The two remaining 
vessels were severally commanded by Captains Volkertsten 
and Christiansen. The name of the former has not yet 
appeared in our annals, but Hendrick Christiansen, (De Laet 
tells us,) was the first commandant of the first fort erected 
on Manhattan Island in 1614, and in the same year two. 
other forts were built on the Hudson — one at Esopus and 
one at the head of navigation near Albany. Six years later, 
and in the same year that the Puritans touched the rim of 
the coast at Plymouth, [1620,] the advance station of the 
commercial settlement of our province was on the Mohawk 
at Schenectady.* 

1616. On the 18th of August, 1616, Captain Cornelius 
Hendrickson of Holland, appeared before a meeting of the 
States-General, in behalf of the Directors of New Netherland 
in America, (between New France and Virginia, and ex- 
tending from 40 to 45 degrees of North Latitude,) and made 
a report of his having discovered and explored certain lands, 
a bay, and three rivers, situate between 38 and 40 degrees 
of North Latitude, in a small Yacht of sixteen tons burthen, 
named the " Onrust " (The Restless) which had been 
built there. He also presented to the States-General a 
descriptive map of the countries he had discovered and 

♦Hoffman. 



24 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

■) 

explored. This map is drawn on parchment, about two feet 
long and eighteen inches wide, and is executed in the most 
elegant style of art. It shows very accurately, says Mr. 
Brodhead, the situation of the coast from Nova Scotia to the 
Capes of Virginia, and the discoveries then made in Long 
Island Sound, and in the neighborhood of Manhattan. A 
fac-simile of this map is now in the office of the Secretary 
of State at Albany.* 

Here was completed the arduous labor of Dutch discovery 
of the long line of coast already noticed ; and the evidence 
of the careful surveys made of the whole, is preserved to us 
by the indefatigable Hendrickson, the gallant Dutch com- 
mander, whose name deserves, at least, to be remembered 
with that of Hudson. It is here, also, that we have the 
register of The Restless, whose name and service will be 
remembered as part of our history. 

Was not "this Continent" already "opened," without 
any agency of the "Pilgrims of the Mayflower 1" Verily, 
they were still dreaming in Holland ; and it is yet four 
years before they wake up to the terrible enterprise of 
crossing the Atlantic. 

1620. The "Pilgrims of the Mayflower" arrive, and 
"touch the rim" of Massachusetts, where they remained 
whining over their hard fate ; and we look in vain, for many 
years afterwards, for any enterprise of these men of a single 
idea which will mate them with their Dutch neighbors, who 
had already formed permanent settlements, made treaties 
with the Indians, and carried their industry far into the 
wilderness. 

* Hoffman. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



1621. The first chartered city in the colony was our 
present metropolis, [New- York,] and the avowed object of 
her first charter, is to establish a government wherein the 
citizens shall choose their magistrates and a representative 
council annually.* 

This charter dates in the month of May 1621 ; that is 
within seven years of the first, active measures which had 
been taken and effectually carried out for planting the colony 
of the Hudson — that wide-spread colony being already so 
advanced as to require a central government, which should 
erect it into a- province. The trading stations previously 
planted on the Hudson, which are at this day populous 
towns, had each already become the nucleus of a settle- 
ment.! 

" Justice shall be administered in these hamlets, villages 
and cities, according to the style and order of the Provinces 
of Holland, and the cities and manors thereof; to which end 
the courts shall follow, as far as the same is possible, the 
ordinances received here in New Amsterdam ; and the 
qualified persons [each town settled the qualification of its 
own voters] of such cities, villages and hamlets shall, in 
such case, be authorised to nominate for the office of 
magistrates," &c. 

Holland was a free representative Republic ; and the 
above quotation, taken from our early municipal regulations, 
is thus referred to by Dr. O'Callaghan, an able historian of 
New- York, who says that " It is to the Republic of Holland, 
and the wise and beneficent modification of the feudal code, 

* Dunlap. t Hoffman. 



26 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



which obtained there, and not to the Puritanic idea of 
freedom, that New Netherland, and the several towns within 
its confines, were indebted for whatever municipal privileges 
they enjoyed. The charters under which they were plant- 
ed Avere essentially Dutch ; and those who look to New 
England as the source of popular privileges in New Nether- 
land, fall therefore into a grievous error, sanctioned neither 
by law nor history." 

In the early days of the Dutch rule, the full privileges 
of citizenship were here accorded to all who had a direct 
interest in the soil ; while in Massachusetts Bay Colony, 
where the ministers of religion were not restricted to powers 
purely spiritual, similar privileges were denied to all who 
were not received into the Church of which Plymouth Rock 
was the corner stone.* 

The first settlement of this State coincided with its natural 
advantages. While Englishmen came to America, either 
flying from ecclesiastical intolerance, or pursuing the trea- 
sure its savages were supposed to possess, Dutchmen, 
inspired by the spirit of trade, instead of sitting down on 
the skirts of the New World, boldly penetrated to the head 
w aters of the Hudson. They built there a fort in the yeai 
1614, and gave it the name of that august family, whose 
talents and labors, alike in the cabinet and the field, secured 
the liberty of England as well as of Holland, and established 
the Independence of Europe. Children of Commerce, we 
were rocked in the cradle of war, and sucked the principles 
of liberty with our mother's milk.f 

* Hoffman. f Governeur Morris. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 27 



1622. In 1620, as we have already said, a trading 
station was erected at Schenectady ; and two years after the 
landing of the Mayflower, when Morton arrived in New 
England in 1622, he tells us that the colonists of the Hudson 
had already exported the worth of twenty thousand pounds 
sterling from the furs of the forests of New- York. The 
advanced post on the Mohawk brought the colonists in 
contact with the nearest of the confederated cantons of the 
Iroquois ; and then began that league with this singular 
Republic of the Red Man, which endured till the acts of 
England, in the Revolution, first arrayed the Iroquois 
against the patriot citizens of New-York, who took up arms 
in the War of Independence.* 

1632. In 1632 Captain Mason, of New Plymouth, writes 
to the English Secretary of State that " The Dutch on the 
river of Manhattan have built shippes there, whereof one was 
sent into Holland of six hundred tons, or thereabouts ; and 
have made sundry good returns of commodities from theme 
into Holland. Especially this yeare have they returned 
fifteen thousand beaver skins besides other articles." 

Here, at this early day, according to the Puritans' own 
showing, we exhibit a state of prosperity, which may well be 
envied by a neighboring colony that seems to be struck 
with physical paralysis. Not only Yachts of sixteen tons, 
but ships upon a large scale, freighted with the produce of 
the forest, attest our industry, perseverance and success. 
And so have we continued progressing and thriving, for 
upwards of two hundred years, until our little Island, like 

* Hoffman. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



another Venice, has become a potent metropolis influencing 
the world, whose eager commerce "pushes its wharves 
into the sea, blocks up the wide rivers with its fleets, and, 
sending its ships, the pride of naval architecture, to every 
clime, defies every wind, outstrides every tempest, and in- 
vades every zone."* 

The Puritans — had they yet built ships, made treaties, 
planted colonies, engaged in commerce, or penetrated the 
wilderness 1 In what enterprise had they engaged ] Were 
they not still quarrelling about modes of faith; and had 
they not already begun a system of exclusion and persecu- 
tion, both political and religious, that did not end with 
their first century 1 I will quote their laws directly, reach- 
ing to 1747, and trace them for more than one century. 

1660. In Neal's History of New England, the progress 
of that colony and the character of its people are distinctly 
stated in the following words. The relation forms a strange 
contrast with the theories of modern Puritanism, whose 
perversions are beginning to assume the shape of con- 
firmed mania and disease. These old books, perhaps, 
may furnish a salutary remedy. 

"The inhabitants of New England," says Neal, "are the 
posterity of the old English Puritans, or Non-Conformists 
to the Church of England, who chose to leave their native 
country, and retire into the widerness, rather than submit 
to such rites and ceremonies in religion as they apprehended 
sinful. They did not differ with the Church in any of the 
articles of her faith, but they scrupled the vestments, kneeling 

* Bancroft. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 29 



at the sacrament, some parts of the Common Prayer, and the 
promiscuous admission of all persons to the communion. The 
number of planters that went over to New England before the 
year 1640 were about four thousand ; after which, for the next 
20 years, they had no increase but from among themselves." 
Speaking of the " Civil and Ecclesiastical affairs of the 
country to the year 1700," Neal further says, " that the 
churches of New England were very narrow in their princi- 
ples, and uncharitable to those who differed from them ; they 
had no notions of liberty of conscience, but were for forcing 
men to their public assemblies by fines and imprisonment." 

1691. This is a most remarkable era. The Puritans have 
now been in New England 7-1 years, and exhibit the practical 
working of their " freedom, religion, and civilization" by 
" hanging one another for witchcraft." The New Yorkers, 
in the same year, are boldly opposing British tyranny, and 
furnishing patriots and martyrs in the cause of liberty. The 
New Yorkers, in this year, plant the seeds of our great Revo- 
lution, which ripen into Independence in 1776. Let the 
world contrast the two races ! — one without an aspiration 
beyond murderous oppression, and the other boldly doing 
battle for human freedom. 

" The inhabitants of JVeio England were hanging one 
another for suspected Witchcrafts and Sorceries. 

" The Distemper began the latter end of the year 1691." 
So says Neal, in his History of New England. 

" 'Tis a surprising account that Dr. Mather gives," 
says Neal, " of these afflicted persons ; he says, That 
their limbs were horribly distorted and convulsed, that they 
were pinched black and blue, that pins were invisibly run 



30 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

into their flesh,, and that they were scalded till they had 
blisters raised in them. One of them (says he) was assaulted 
by a spectre with a spindle in his hand, which nobody else 
in the room could see, till the Afflicted, in one of her agonies, 
snatched it out of the spectre's hand, and then all the 
company saw it." Pg. 126. 

" 'Tis certain," says Neal, " that these suspected Wiz- 
zards and Witches were convicted on very slender evidence ; 
for the court allowed the witnesses to tell stories of twenty 
or thirty years standing, about oversetting of carts, the 
death of cattle, unkindness to relations, or unexpected 
accidents befalling after some quarrel ; all that was 
alleged against them to the purpose, being either from the 
distempered persons themselves, or from those who had been 
frightened into a confession of their being witches, by the 
threatenings of Magistrates, or encouraged to it with hopes 
of mercy." Pg. 129. 

"'I can't forbear making one remark upon these as well 
as upon all the trials that Dr. Cotton Mather has published 
to the world on this occasion ; that when he has given us the 
depositions of the witnesses against the prisoners at large, 
he passes over their defence in such general words as these — 
c They said nothing worth considering; their discourse was 
full of tergiversations; they were confounded, and their 
countenances fell,' " &c. Pg. 141. 

" But," continues Neal, at page 141, " upon such evidence 
as this, twenty-eight persons received sentence of death, of 
which nineteen were executed, and one was pressed to death." 
Of these who were executed, thirteen were women, and the 
rest were men; and one, "because he would not confess, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. SI 



when he was examined, that he was guilty, they tied him 
neck and heels till the blood gushed out of his nose." Pg. 163. 

The question naturally arises under which of the heads, 
"freedom, religion, or civilization," we shall place these 
atrocities of the " Pilgrims." They do not appear to belong 
to the account of " opening of this Continent;" and if we 
had not the answer at hand in Neal, we should be puzzled to 
give a satisfactory reply. 

"But besides the blood that was spilt upon this occasion," 
says Neal, " several persons and families were ruined in 
their estates and reputations, partly by long imprisonment, 
and partly by the avarice of the officers who took possession 
of their houses in their absence 5 and though I am fully sat- 
isfied that the zeal of the government in this affair proceeded 
from their regard to the Glory of God, yet I must say that 
the magistrates were too partial in their behavior towards 
the accused, and that Sir William Phips himself treated them 
with too much severity, by ordering them to be laid in irons, 
and countenancing the popular cry against them." Pg. 164. 
" Thus, in about fifteen months' time, ended an affair which 
not only confounded the minds of the good people of New 
England, but struck all Europe with surprise and astonish- 
ment." Pg. 168. 

Alas, for the " Glory of God," as understood by the Pil- 
grims who opened "this Continent !" But I have not quite 
done with Neal yet. 

1734. " An abridgment of the laws and ordinances of 
New England," published by Neal, in his edition of this 
year, shows the following enactments of the " Pilgrims" to 
be in force and unrepealed. 



32 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Adultery, punished with Death. 

Blasphemy, punished with Death. 

Burglary and Robery, first offence burning in the forehead, 
and loss of an ear if on the Sabbath. Second offence burn- 
ing and whipping. Third offence Death. 

A son of sixteen, accused by parents of rebellion, and 
other notorious crimes, shall be put to Death. 

No man to be a deputy to the General Court who is not 
sound in the main points of religion. 

No Quaker or Dissenter from the public worship has a 
vote. 

Freemen : All Englishmen, members of churches sound in 
faith, and twenty -four years old, may be made free, [i. e. 
free to vote.] 

The punishment of heresy is banishment. 

Whoever brings in a Quaker is imprisoned. 

Quakers not inhabitants, to be imprisoned, and then ban- 
ished ; not to return on pain of Death. 

If inhabitants, to be banished if they don't recant. 

If they return, to be banished again, not to return on pain 
of Death. 

Vagabond Quakers are to be whipped through towns not 
exceeding three, and banished. If they return they are to 
be branded with the letter R, and whipped, as before. If 
they return after this, to be banished on pain of Death. 

If any turn Quakers they are to be banished ; and served 
as vagabond Quakers if they return. 

No Jesuit or Priest to abide in the jurisdiction. Who- 
ever can't clear himself from suspicion, to be banished, not 
to return on pain of Death. If he did not depart before No- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



vember IT 00, he was to be imprisoned for life, and die if he 
broke prison. Whoever concealed such, to be pilloried, or 
to pay 200/., half to the informer. Any justice may commit 
one suspected, and he may be seized by any, without war- 
rant. 

Land in the jurisdiction, not improved by Indians, is 
the property of the English. 

None to sell the Indians a boat, skiff, or canoe, under for- 
feiture of 50/. 

Every town must choose a minister and pay him. If 
they neglect it, the Quarter Sessions choose for them, and 
oblige them to pay him. 

No person to be put to the rack, unless it appears there 
are confederates and he won't discover them. 

To travel to a meeting, not allowed by law, is a profana- 
tion of the Sabbath. 

Men-strangers upon their arrival are to give an account of 
themselves. 

Freemen may make laws for their town, and choose their 
selectmen. [At this time, and afterwards, full four -fifths of 
the adult inhabitants were not allowed to vote, because they 
were not freemen ; and none were permitted to be made free 
unless they belonged to the established church of the Puri- 
tanic creed.] 

Witches suffer Death. 

Under these laws, concerning Quakers, several were 
hanged for contumacy, and many were whipped at the whip- 
ping-post and cart-tail. The mind revolts at this catalogue 
of punishments and restraints, by which the Puritans dis- 



34 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

graced the age in which they lived, and prevented the growth 
of civil and religious freedom in their jurisdiction, for more 
than a century after their arrival in this country. While 
we laugh at the pretensions of their descendants, we can- 
not but blush for the perversity of their ancestors' fanati- 
cism. 

Is the question of their " introduction of freedom, religion, 
and civilization," upon " this Continent" by the Pilgrims, 
disposed of 1 New-York, it will be readily admitted, has no 
parallel to these peculiar virtues of the Puritans, as, exempli- 
fied by their history. Let our own records speak for our 
religious observances and our social civilization. 

1645. The mild and tolerant religious feeling that 
pervaded our territory, so different from the savage and 
exclusive creed of the soured Puritans of New England, is 
exemplified in a proclamation of this year, still existing on 
record, by the governor-general of New Netherland, appoint- 
ing " a day of general thanksgiving to God Almighty, to be 
observed in churches of every persuasion throughout the pro- 
vince, in pious acknowledgment of the blessings which he has 
been pleased to bestow upon this country." 

" Whereas," says the record of the Burgomasters and 
schepens of Manhattan, " the winter festivals are at hand, it 
is found good that between this date and three weeks after 
Christmas, the ordinary meetings of the court shall be dis- 
pensed with." Thus much for the social winter festivals. 
Those of the spring are thus heralded : " With the custom- 
ary bell-ringing at the City Hall was published the renewed 
order concerning the planting of the May -pole, and the 
damage which may be done in consequence of the general 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 35 



sports. By these words it is made known, that any damage 
which may ensue from the general rejoicings, shall be made 
known to the Burgomasters at the City Hall immediately 
thereafter, when measures shall be taken to furnish repara- 
tion."* 

Thus did the highest in authority not only encourage good 
fellowship and social enjoyment among the people, but freely 
and handsomely offered to pay any damages that might 
arise from the public license of the season. Well and truly 
does a cotemporary writer mark the social difference of the 
two races, when he says that " Our graceless Knickerbockers 
danced round the May-pole in the Bowerie, while the Puri- 
tan Anglo Saxon burned witches at Salem I" 

" I will not recognise" says Hoffman, "the ferocious in- 
tolerance of Puritanism in forcing its own dogmas upon 
Quakers and Anabaptists in this land, as proving that it 
offered a true priesthood for the altars of freedom. I will not 
recognize that its blind uses of power have proved aught to 
the world in the science of Liberty." 

Are we met with the Revolutionary reminiscences- of New 
England 1 She ought to know that New-York gave tone to 
the Revolution from beginning to end ; a}^ and began it 
earlier than any other of the " Old Thirteen." It is but 
justice to say, however, that New England, whose previous 
pretensions have been discussed somewhat at large in these 
pages, began now to assume a character entirely new and 
creditable. But while the first battle was fought there, it 
must be remembered that New-York was subsequently the 



Paulding. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



great battle-field, and was tracked with the blood of her 
patriots from one end to the other. 

1765. As early as 1765 the Revolution began in the city 
of New- York, by the refusal of our citizens to use " the 
stamps." The merchants held a meeting in October and 
resolved not to import goods from England. On the refusal 
of the English governor to deliver the stamps to the people, 
they hung him in effigy in what is now the Park. On the 
same evening they repaired to the fort, which had been put 
in a complete state of defence, and demanded the stamps. 
They were of course refused. They then collected in the 
Bowling Green, and there within pistol-shot of the fort, 
built a bonfire, upon which they immolated the effigy of the 
governor along with his chariot in which they fixed his effigy. 
The next day the governor published a semi-official notice 
that " he had not issued and would not suffer to be issued, 
any of the stamps now in Fort George." The people were 
not satisfied, and declared that the stamps should be deliv- 
ered out of the fort or they would take them away by force. 
And finally they were delivered over to the Mayor and 
Common Council and deposited in the City Hall. 

Talk of your Boston Tea-parties, and your New England 
patriotism ! Why New-York has her stories as well, but 
she has never thought it becoming to place them in the 
shape of a stereotyped boast. 

In 1766, it was boldly proclaimed by the New-Yorkers 
under the very guns of the fort, and in the face of the armed 
shipping in our harbor, " that the British Parliament pos- 
sessed not the shadow of jurisdiction in America." What 
was this but open and rank Rebellion to British authority ? 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 37 



" It was the Merchants of New-York," says Dunlap, 
" who were the first to enter into the famous non-importa- 
tion agreement, which being followed by other colonies, did 
more than any other movement to produce the repeal of the 
Stamp Act ; and that success gave heart to the country for 
bolder movements." 

It may now be interesting to mention, (observes Mr. Hoff- 
man,) a few of the divers people, who, in the early days of 
New- York, were grafted in among the three races which form 
the basis of the Knickerbocker stock. The three great eras 
of New-York colinization are — 

1. Its first commercial planting by the Hollanders. 

2. Its becoming the principal asylum of the Huguenots in 
America, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. 

3. The influx of Cavalier and anti-Puritan English, after 
it became the province of the British Stuarts. 

The Puritans never imprinted their peculiarities nor their 
fanaticism upon New- York. 

In 1624, ten years after the Hollanders established their 
three forts on the Hudson, and commenced that line of posts 
which soon extended from the Connecticut to the Delaware, 
we have the first infusion here of the different races from 
which the genuine Knickerbocker was evolved. In this year 
came a body of Walloons, from the frontier between France 
and Flanders, who spoke the old Gallic language and pro- 
fessed the reformed religion. Some of these settled on the 
" Bay of Foreigners" — Wale Bocht — near the present Navy- 
yard in Brooklyn ; others sailed up the Hudson and estab- 
lished themselves near the head of ship navigation 

In 1642, a band of representatives of the English race, 



THE ROMANCE, OF YACHTING. 



(not the Puritans,) appear in New Netherland, and plant 
themselves besides their Belgic and Gallic predecessors, with 
whom they soon become blended by intermarriage. The 
historian, De Laet, says, in speaking of this period of the 
history of New Netherland, " Numbers, nay, whole towns, 
to escape from the insupportable government of New Eng- 
land, removed to New Netherland, to enjoy that liberty 
denied them by their own countrymen." These men came 
not hither to bring " Puritan freedom" certainly, but to 
escape Puritan tyranny. 

In 1664 came the Cavalier followers of the now restored 
Stuarts. They were any thing but Puritans. Upon the 
refusal of the Parliament to grant adequate supplies for the 
expensive post of Tangier, which Charles II. had received as 
part of the dowry of his Portuguese wife, he demolished the 
walls of the city, destroyed its magnificent mole, and sent 
his cavaliers and soldiers of fortune over to New- York, and 
gave them manor grants upon Long Island. 

In 1684, following the detached families of Norman Prot- 
estants, who had previously come hither through the ports 
of Holland, began the great Huguenot immigration into New- 
York, when so many families of persecuted Frenchmen mi- 
grated hither, and established themselves, some in the city 
of New-York, some on Staten Island, some at New Rochelle, 
in West Chester County, some in Rockland County and 
some in Ulster County. 

In 1710 New-York became the asylum of three thousand 
German exiles, who migrated in one body to the valley of the 
Hudson. 

Thus" The Pioneers of New-York," continues the eloquent 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



and fearless author of the work bearing that title, from 
which I have so largely quoted, " were, as we have seen, of 
any other than c Puritan Anglo-Saxon' origin. From the 
brown plains of Normandy and the green vales of England, 
from the sunny hills of Savoy and the bleak wastes of Fin- 
land, came they hither to this land of a thousand lakes, 
where blithely gathered the salmon fisher of Erin's rivers and 
the hunter of the stag through Scottish heather, to ply their 
sport amid the forest fastnesses of New- York, with men who 
had slaked the fever thirst of battle in the Rhine and the 
Scheldt : whither, too, to stamp our share in the heritage of 
England's wit and gaiety, and jocund spirit of prime fellow- 
ship, drifted the roystering companions of that c merry mon- 
arch,' whose inborn selfishness has put many a genial heart 
for ever out of humor with kingly courtesy and cavalier mirth. 

" When next, therefore, you hear £ the principles of our 
Puritan ancestry' appealed to in our New-York legislature, 
as authority here, repel with indignation the arrogant as- 
sumption over your own original sovereignty. 

" And when you are told from a New- York rostrum, that 
[ the Pilgrim fathers of Plymouth Rock' first c opened this 
Continent' and introduced i freedom, religion and civiliza- 
tion' here, on the soil which you tread — plant yourselves 
upon your own peculiar story, and let the barriers of history 
repel the offensive encroachment. 

" If the question be that of physical enterprise, point to 
Fort Orange at the head of the navigation of the Hudson in 
1614, and tell them that the Naval Flag of New- York was 
first hoisted in a barque built here in 1616, by people who 
then owned the mastery of the seas. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



" If the question be of political freedom, point to the arti- 
cle in our New Netherland land patents, securing perfect 
liberty of conscience. 

" And if the question be of ' civilization,' and the onward 
spirit of the age, point to the genial and gentle habits of that 
people, who, stern in their patriotism as they were free- 
hearted in their sports, furnished three martyrs to political 
liberty (in 1691) neither of whom were Puritans ; each of 
whom represented a prominent type of our population.* 

" I stand here in the name of the freeholders of New- 
York" said Milbourne, one hundred and fifty years ago, in 
the Convention at Albany. " I pronounce the charter of 
the English King null : The people of New-York have the 
power to choose their own officers, and every incumbent 
should be subjected to a free election." 

" Milbourne died for that sentiment, then so new, so 
startling, and so boldly uttered. 

" I rule here," said Leisler, u in the name of the people 
of New- York, and by the same right which has called Wil- 
liam of Orange to the throne of England — the voice of my 
countrymen. The only council which I acknowledge is the 
committee chosen by the free and open election of the free- 
men of this province in their respective counties." 

" Leisler perished on the scaffold for that rule ; and 
Gouverneur 5 the third of these patriots, barely escaped with 
his life. 

" These three gallant men, the Netherlander, the Eng- 

* 1691. This is the year in which the Pilgrims were hanging their 
brethren in New England for Witchcraft. — What a contrast ! 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



lishman, and the Huguenot, offer conjointly a glorious type 
of the Republican ancestry of New- York. But how have 
New-Yorkers preserved their memory % Why that first tri- 
umph of an independent political spirit, that first well 
ordered success of The People, which gave a two years' 
Democratic rule to the people of this State, one hundred and 
fifty years ago, is it not still fondly cherished in Tammany 
Hall, which was built over the grave of one of the Martyrs 1 

u Had the progress-truths for which Milbourne perished — 
had the eternal principles of right and wrong, whose dis- 
tinctions Leisler died in upholding — had these been promul- 
gated in New England, and sealed with the blood of a New 
England-man, does any one doubt that the names of the 
brave martyrs would have stood at this moment foremost in 
American History, as the joint embodiment, the first breath- 
ing types of principles taught eighty-six years afterwards 
in the declaration of Independence % 

u The history of New- York, will be no history of ' the Pu- 
ritan Anglo-Saxon :' And her present and her past story is 
no more to be merged in that of New England, than it is in 
that of Virginia." 

I have now done with the subject, which, in this connex- 
ion, I could not well avoid. I have shown by their own 
cotemporary history, as well as by ours, that New England 
and her Puritans were more than a full century behind JYew- 
York and her people, in every thing that is of value in civil 
and religious liberty and progressive civilization. In the lan- 
guage of Neal, their own historian, " they had no notions" 
of them. Their religion was a ferocious fanaticism ; their 



4<2 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

freedom a tyranny over conscience, an exclusion and a perse- 
cution ; and their civilization, (exemplified by their practices 
and their laws, by which a nation is always to be judged,) 
the most brutal and barbarous invasion of the rights of their 
fellow-men. Their schools, in that entire century, instead 
of flourishing in healthy literature, were only the nurseries 
of the narrowest bigotry and the most vehement intolerance. 
These things can no longer be covered up by our charitable 
forbearance, and never can be atoned. They place New 
England without the pale or recognition of civilization, for 
the first century of her history ; and not only a century 
behind New- York, but a century behind every other Ameri- 
can people or plantation of that early period. The rule of 
the Puritans in New England was a blot upon the age 
in which they lived, and an iron heel set upon the growth of 
liberty. 

What supreme folly, therefore, is it, at this day, for their 
descendants to give us fabulous invention for their history, 
or to hold up such ruthless and unenterprising Anglo Saxon 
barbarians as their (not our) u Pilgrim Fathers," or that 
" cold, barren rock of Plymouth," upon which they hap- 
pened to land, as objects for the veneration or admiration of 
enlightened New- York, where Puritan propagandism is so 
utterly hopeless and ridiculous ! Our race is not one in 
common with theirs. We do not admit the English prefix 
of stupidity as belonging to our blood. While the root of 
the race must necessarily remain of Teutonic origin, the 
engraftments are of a better and a higher species. We are 
Norman-Saxon, not Anglo-Saxon. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



And thus have I, under the ' peculiar Yachting head 
adopted for this chapter, freely using the authentic materi- 
als before me, given the " Restless" to a deathless fame, 
vindicated the historical priority of New- York and the char- 
acter of our Knickerbocker race, and placed the Puritan- 
Pilgrims in their true position. If we began our career of 
mercantile greatness by building the craft of pleasure, she 
was also the pioneer of our lofty enterprise ; and the date of 
her register forms an incontestable era in the progress of our 
early civilization. It is a well-defined stage and resting- 
place for the historian, whereon to plant himself firmly and 
indisputably. And since that time, our mercantile marine 
of mighty ships, spreading their sails upon our waters and 
penetrating every sea, has had a history continuous and 
unbroken from the beginning hitherto. Ho ! to the land 
shadowing with wings ! 



44 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER III. 



Moored off the Battery, within a cable's length of the 
little old Dutch house occupied by that true descendant of 
the Knickerbockers, Mr. Peter M. Bayard, whose foundation 
is erected on the identical spot where the timber was felled 
and the keel was laid of the restless, the first Yacht built 
by the first Knickerbocker children of the whirlpool, 
(titles significant and prophetic !) there lay, as I have said, a 
fleet of pleasure Yachts, dressed in all their gay panoply 
of flags and streamers. 

These trim and gallant little vessels, in number about 
a dozen, were anchored near the Castle, preparatory to 
a grand regatta shortly to come off; of which they were to 
form the principal feature. One of these, much larger than 
the others, had lately returned from the West Indies, where, 
cruising among the clusters of those prolific and picturesque, 
but ill-fated islands, she had spent the winter, (in that 
region un printems eternel,) exciting admiration for her 
capital sailing qualities and just proportions — properties, it 
seems, which are difficult to be embodied by architects and 
builders out of New-York. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Another wicked-looking thing, called the Spitfire, was just 
ready for a voyage to tire Mediterranean. Her stores were 
all on board, her sails bent and hanging in the brails, her 
anchor a-peak, and she was only waiting to make trial of her 
speed, with the rest, in the projected contest. If she had 
mounted a long gun amidships, been painted black, and 
suddenly discovered somewhere about the Line, or in the 
frequented waters of the West India Islands, the sober 
merchantman would have given her a wide birth; and avoid- 
ed her as a craft possessing a superabundance of dangerous 
and suspicious legs and arms. She would have passed, 
without question or friendly hail, for that " long, low, black 
schooner," whose identity is as apocryphal, and fame nearly 
as great, as those of the Flying Dutchman. 

Her pilot-boat sharpness was, however, united with great 
Buoyancy and simplicity of rig ; and being painted white all 
over, her innocence of piratical intention might well be taken 
for granted. Though apparently deep in the water, to 
which appearance her low bulwarks contributed, she was 
nevertheless broad of beam, and full of comfortable births 
and cabin rooms and luxurious and well adapted furniture. 
The steward's department was princely, and even the cook 
lived and moved in a culinary palace. Sources of half the 
joys and more than half the comforts of a sea voyage, these 
functionaries and this department were well bestowed and 
well supplied. 

My attention was suddenly called off from the congregated 
Yachts, by an organ-grinder and his monkey, just as I was 
falling into a dreamy anticipation of what would be the 
reception of the gallant little Spitfire in foreign waters, and 



46 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

how her gentlemanly owner and his gentlemanly guests, all 
amateur sailors and bound upon a pleasurable enterprise, 
would bowl about, at their leisure, from port to port, and be 
welcomed everywhere because they were Americans and loved 
freedom, until every nook of that ancient midland sea should 
be satisfactorily explored. Indeed I began to grow not a lit- 
tle envious of their prospective good fortune, and was far gone 
in breaking that great and wholesome commandment, touch- 
ing the coveting of a neighbor's ox, and his ass, and his other 
moveables ; but, checking myself, I let the sin escape through 
the safety-valve of a slight sigh, and so turned to the organ- 
ist, who was gathering all the little boys and girls around 
him from far and near, to hear his music, and to see the 
pranks of his diminutive monkey, dressed up like a field- 
marshal of the Empire and dancing hornpipes. And I sat 
with the children, and saw the play, and heard the music, 
portions of which were the blandest airs of Italy. 

Alas ! what is fame 1 Here was a little Italian Scara- 
mouch, toting about his instrument of pipes, with a monkey 
on top, whereat, (I refer to the hand-organ,) I am sorry to 
say, my countrymen, when they grow up, affect to be very 
much horrified j but erewhile, when they were children, 
nothing would sooner arrest their attention, and call them 
away from mischief or a dinner. 

A hand-organ ! a portable Opera House, carrying about 
Rossini and Donizetti, and all the rest of the modern com- 
posers, except Verdi, the " brassy and impossible Verdi," 
who has not yet received his ticket to travel in company 
with his betters. Mozart, and Haydn, and Beethoven, have 
had their day of riding on the barrel. Handel, the " heavy 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 47 



and fatiguing," never was considered worthy that high honor. 
Indeed they don't know, nor have they ever heard of the 
heavy German or his works, even in the most musical parts 
of Italy. And if they had, the hurly-burly Chorus of 
Hailstones, and the swamping fugues of the Horse and his 
Rider, all destitute of melody, would be but confusion worse 
confounded, nay worse than theatrical thunder, by being 
rolled on the perambulating barrel. — But Bellini ! — the 
hornpipe, showing off the paces of the monkey, has changed 
to that plaintive air of Bellini's — " Isabel, loved Isabel !" — 
I never think of Bellini but the tears come to my eyes, and 
my heart grows sad. Just twenty-seven years of age* Yfhen 
he died ; — or was poisoned, they say, through envious 
rivalry. How hard to die so young ! How hard to be 
obliged to resign life at that early age, so full of talent, so 
worshipped, with such a glorious present fame, and such a 
splendid promise of the future ! 

My young Italian was a philosopher. He would play no 
longer for the youngsters, who were scantily supplied with 
pence, it appeared. He held out his hat to me among the 
rest, and a few stray coppers satisfied him for his operatic 
efforts and the saltatory divertisement of his familiar. 

" How is it," said I to the boy, as he was passing along, 
"that I see you here with your organ, year after year? 
Have you no other employment? Do you not think some- 
times of learning a useful trade, so as to prepare for man- 
hood?" 

"Oh, signor !" replied he in broken English, "It is 
pleasant enough wandering about here, in the sunshine and 
among the trees ; and I make a great deal of money by my 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



organ, which indeed is not very hard work. At any rate I 
find it the nearest approach to the ' dolce far niente' of my 
own country; and when I look upon the trees and the 
water, and feel warm in the sun, I think of my distant home 
— of Italy, signor !" 

The " Dolce far Niente" of that little Italian, of the spe- 
cies Lazzarone, haunted me a good deal that day. Is it 
definable 1 — " Sweet to do nothing ;" lazy listnessness ; the 
luxury of idleness ; a total abandonment of the powers of the 
mind and the body to inertness ; dreaming of Castles in 
Spain. Or is it that state of blessedness which Canning 
coveted, — namely, to stretch out upon a sofa, cut the leaves 
of new novels wet from the press, and to read them undis- 
turbed for a twelvemonth 1 Or was it in the favorite enjoy- 
ment of a greater than Canning, who never was happier than 
when sitting on a hay-cock, watching the birds while they 
stole his cherries ? Charles James Fox was oftener found 
in the fields than in " the House." Or is it in rising with 
the peep of dawn, shouldering the fowling-piece or the 
fishing-rod, and bagging the yellow-breasted plover of the 
upland, or landing the speckled trout from the brook 1 — 
laborious amusements, often sought by the occupant of 
" Marshfield," a man who will yet, though we differ with him 
in some of his measures, be named with either Fox or Canning. 
Or is it in sleeping ? Or dreaming 1 Or growing obese, like the 
lizard upon nothing, or fat like an alderman, upon things of 
fatness 1 Or is it Yachting — the Romance of Yachting ? 
Ah, I have you there ! I have hit the nail upon the head at 
last, and am entitled to cry Eureka ! Yachting is the true 
Dolce far Niente. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHERE SHALL IGO? THE QUESTION CANVASSED, AND THE 
OLD WORLD PASSED IN REVIEW. 

Is not the Romance of Yachting the highest mark of the 
Dolce far Niente ? — 

Let us see. 

You jump on board, weigh anchor, loose your sails to the 
wind, and with light hearts, plenty of provender, and the per 
quod, Ho, for the open sea ! With all the world before you, 
away you speed for the sunny Isles of the south, or to the 
more distant coasts of that great and wondrous inland sea of 
the east, where the ripe fruits, rich wines, and lovely women 
of Spain and France and Italy abound ! — Where the feet of 
the Phenician, the most enterprising and courageous people 
of antiquity, the Carthaginian, the Egyptian, the Greek, the 
Roman and the Moor, trod in their palmy days, and where 
their conquests and prowess, their learning and enterprise 
have left the impress behind them of progressive civilization 
and the arts, which endure even unto this day. The Ro- 
mance of Yachting, then, may be said to consist in looking 
upon all these at your leisure, free from care, from business, 
and the vexations of e very-day life. 

3 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



At every stage, at every port, you see and study the 
remains of nations old in history, (new to the uninitiated 
American,) whose manners and customs, laws and institu- 
tions, tinged though they may be with a thousand absurdi- 
ties of antiquity, are full of instruction and replete- with 
amusement. But, invariably also, they send my countrymen 
back, when their Yachting day is over, with increased love 
and attachment to their native land — a land full of progress, 
and alike free from the grinding tyranny of the petty despot, 
or the more enlarged enslavement of monarchy ; where the 
people govern, and where they tolerate no superior but the 
laws, which they themselves have orignated, discussed and 
framed. 

Having imbibed some new ideas, this day, as well from 
my young Italian as from the inspiration which one would 
naturally find in beholding so many Yachts and so many 
ships, all on the wing, I own the soft impeachment of being 
seized with the pleasures of travel. I forthwith determined 
to undertake a voyage ; to make a pilgrimage to some foreign 
shrine ; to run away, for a while, from business, scare up 
what amusement I could in, my flight, and, in the fulness of 
time, Providence being over all and smiling upon me, to 
come back again renewed and regenerated, and ready to 
" pitch into" the old business again — " like a thousand of 
brick !» 

" But where am I to go?" asked a great statesman, in a 
profound quandary, doubting to what political party he 
belonged. Rapidly revolving this important question in my 
own mind, I settled a preliminary, which perhaps deter- 
mined my future action. Casting my eyes over the map of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Europe, with somewhat of indecision at first, 1 soon resolved, 
as for an unalterable certainty, that I would not visit any- 
country where the votaries of fashionable travel were to be 
met with. In the well-beaten regions of France and Italy, 
and even in England, I knew I should find hundreds of tour- 
ists, with guide-books in their hands, zealously seeking out 
objects which it is the height of stupidity not to admire, 
because these same guide-books, like finger posts at the 
corners of cross-roads, but with less of truth, point them out 
for the especial observance of the curious, while the thousand 
things of real life, that indicate the prosperity or abasement 
of a people, are passed by without the slightest notice. It 
is the peculiarity of nearly every written history with which 
I am acquainted, that it leaves the things of common life 
untold, and seldom informs us how a nation lives. 

My own country I had already travelled over pretty 
thoroughly, and her laws and institutions were not unknown 
to me. More than twenty of her States, and their people, 
were familiar to me by travel and intercourse ; and, therefore, 
with a homebred preparation, which Americans ought always 
in the first place to acquire, I felt pretty sure of not being 
voted ignorant of our own history and condition, should my 
knowledge pass in review before foreigners. I afterwards 
found myself right in this conclusion ; for the scrutiny of 
strangers in strange lands was constantly putting my infor- 
mation to tests of great closeness and even severity, though 
no annoyance was intended, nor injurious doubt entertained 
towards me. 

In this regard I escaped the mortification of a friend of 
mine from the North, a gentleman intelligent in the highest 



63 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

degree, and who had also travelled in his own country 
extensively. He was a large dealer in silks, and was now 
in Europe ; and having finished his purchases at Lyons was 
passing out of France into Italy, in order • to complete his 
mercantile arrangements in Florence. Thus far my friend 
had travelled pleasantly and amicably with several learned 
fathers of the Church, who, finding him hailing from Amer- 
ica, were constant in their inquisitorial pumpings about the 
great land of liberty, equality and religious freedom. The 
American answered every draft frankly and willingly, and 
the travellers were delighted with each other, and pledged 
eternal friendship. Descending the last slopes of the Alps, 
where they begin to subside into the plains of Lombardy, 
and coming to a field of delicious greenness in a well-watered 
valley, which contrasted so strongly with the sombre rude- 
ness of the mountains as to excite his observation, my friend 
enquired of one of the worthy fathers what might be the 
name of the grain there growing so luxuriantly 1 

"It is rice," answered the Churchman. 

" Rice ! I have never seen a field of rice before," remarked 
my unsuspicious countryman. 

" You have never seen rice growing W said the father in 
astonishment. 

"Never!" 

" And yet you have told us that one of the largest exports 
of your country is rice. Go to, sir ; you are no American ! 
You are an impostor, and have deceived us all along." 

The padres turned their backs upon him, and would fel- 
lowship him no more. My friend had never been within five 
hundred miles of a field of rice, perhaps, and yet he was well 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 53 



acquainted with his country and had travelled far and wide 
over her soil. The great extent of the Union can never be 
comprehended by foreigners ; and hence they place the staple 
agricultural productions of the North and the South, of our 
Boreal and our almost Tropical regions, in amusing juxta- 
position. 

No one who has travelled abroad, can have failed to notice 
the most absurd and mortifying ignorance, prevailing among 
all classes, in relation to everything American. This is 
peculiarly the case, not only in Italy where ignorance seems 
to have planted itself irrevocably, but especially in England 
and France, countries of reputed intelligence. Innocent 
ignorance you may easily enlighten ; but I have- found deep- 
rooted prejudices also, sown and fostered by British publica- 
tions of studied wantonness and malignity, existing abroad 
against us and our institutions, which were extremely difficult 
to combat with success. But where I have met with persons 
imbued with such injurious notions, I have taken unusual 
pains to set them right, and have seldom failed to turn the 
current of reproach against our hereditary traducers. And, 
I confess, that my desire to roll back (I care not whether in 
season or out of season) the aspersions that have been bestow- 
ed upon us with a lavish hand by the English people and the 
English press, enters not a little into my design of amplifying 
the notes and memoranda which I possess, that imperceptibly 
grew upon my hands as I progressed in my journeyings. It 
was, however, not my design " to write a book " when I left 
my native shores ; but simply, as I have intimated before, to 
enjoy a short season of the romance of travel. 

With this single object in view, I determined to visit 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Spain — a country offering, as I believed, the most inviting 
climate, and a people to be studied who are not well under- 
stood by us at the present day, however justly we may have 
appreciated them in their former history. Besides, I imagined, 
and I afterwards ascertained it to be a fact, that, as a mass, 
they were better disposed towards ! my countrymen than the 
two prominent nations of France and England, into which 
countries our American travellers, now getting to be quite 
numerous, seem generally prone to penetrate to the exclusion 
of nearly all others, to hear their country abused and insulted 
at every step they advance. In England this is uniformly 
the case. In France, and among Frenchmen, we no longer 
discover the cordial friendship which in the early days of 
Lafayette existed towards us.* We find the liberal tone of 
her press changing, and assimilating to that of England in 
brutality and misrepresentation; and taking the hue of her 
press, the people have become rude in their manners and 
offensive in their speech, whenever America is under dis- 
cussion. Perhaps the cue is taken from the throne ; and if 
so, it will not be difficult to find a reason for the change. 
There are surplus princes in France, who are striving for a 
royal appanage in America. The concurrence of England 
was doubtless thought necessary to carry out the far-reach- 
ing scheme ; and nothing so flattered that power into acqui- 
escence, as to find France, our ancient ally and England's 



* These pages were written before the late Revolution in France. 
Now a Republic, the tone of her people has sensibly changed towards 
us. But who will undertake to say how it will be to-morrow with 
that unstable and impulsive people ? 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



hereditary enemy, abusing us manfully. In this spirit the 
incipient steps were taken in the formation of a league, to 
thwart the policy of the American people in extending the 
boundaries of freedom and of self-government to all parts of 
the Western continent. There will, however, be no more 
kings nor princes in America, with royal dynasties, whose 
sympathies are with the old tyrannies of Europe. The day 
is gone by. It is our will that it shall not return ; and 
we will maintain this position, against all who may offer to 
disturb our determination by a meddlesome interference. 

There may have been a time, and I am willing to concede 
that such was the case, when England, smarting under what 
she deemed her disgrace in being obliged to relinquish her 
colonies, was entitled to the old woman's privilege, to scold 
and be irritable. It was quite natural that she should 
have a few hearty curses at our expense. It was mag- 
nanimous in us to indulge her in her petulant folly, and to 
soothe her by undeviating kindness; but there. is a time for 
such forbearance, on our part, to have an end. We have 
long been in a condition to assert our dignity as a people, 
great and powerful as any other that can be named. It is 
our own fault that we have not done so. Since no offers of 
friendly intercourse upon equal terms, no reciprocity will 
appease the hostility so constantly nourished against us, on 
the other side of the Atlantic, what need we care a brass 
farthing about the enmity of England, or the sneers of her 
misnamed free press, controlled as it is by brokering 
Jews? It is time we should treat her with the neglect she 
merits ; it is time that we should meet her insults in another 
spirit than we have done — namely, with open and undisguised 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



contempt, and not with deprecation. If she chooses at any 
time to carry her personal or national dislikes into tangible 
hostility, we well know that we can strike a heavier blow 
than she can, and we need not care when nor how she begins. 
Let us debase ourselves no longer by seeking her friendship, 
for she is unworthy of ours. Let us begin by turning our 
backs upon her as individuals ; and the spirit will ere long 
become systematic in our national councils. The more you 
attempt to deprecate her unforgiving hostility, (and some of 
our writers have stooped to do so,) the more wanton and 
vituperative she becomes. Therefore, let us keep away from 
her shores ; have as few dealings with her as possible ; and 
forget, as speedily as may be, that such a nation exists, or 
that we ever had ties of consanguinity with her people. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 57 



C H A P T E R V. 

A GLANCE TOWARDS SPAIN. 

To me it seems an object worthy of earnest pursuit, to cul- 
tivate the friendship of the Spanish people, to whom, more 
than to all others put together, America at large is indebted 
for the discovery of our Continent. Beginning at the 
South, she was the first to plant the arts and civilization, 
and even the Christian religion upon American shores — 
leaving us, as I have shown, to " open this Continent " at 
the North. The difference of language, (it is folly to urge 
the difference of religion also,) has kept us too long asunder 
from Spain, the land of fair fruits, womanly beauty, and, set- 
ting the nobility aside, the most manly patriotism. If my 
countrymen could see as I have seen, what a ready passport 
the very name of American is to the kindest regards of the 
Spanish people, and how eagerly they sympathise with us in 
the progress of our free institutions, and rejoice with us in 
our successes as a nation, their steps would be turned far 
more frequently to their hospitable land. 

The Spaniards are a people whose history is of higher 
3* 



68 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

antiquity than that of any other now existing in Europe. 
The classic reminiscences, and the monuments of their varied 
fortune, are everywhere to be found upon the soil of Spain. 
Without this renowned nation, Rome's history would be 
deprived of nearly all its interest ; for Spaniards fought 
her battles and furnished her the sinews of war, not only 
in men but treasure also. They were Rome's best and 
bravest soldiers, but were deprived of all the renown of their 
own antiquity and prowess by being called Romans. Their 
rich temples were robbed and their precious mines exhausted, 
in turn by the Carthaginians, the Romans, and the Moors. 
Among the nations successively occupying their territory, 
whom they now look back to with the greatest pride in 
tracing their ancestry, are the early Phenicians who first 
planted colonies upon their soil, and introduced commerce 
amongst them; and the Goths, (whom we are accustomed 
improperly to call barbarians, because the Greeks and 
Romans called them so,) who were their lawgivers and the 
preservers of the Christian religion among them. Indeed 
the Goths, those people coming from the Avoods and streams 
of the North, are the founders of the most polished nations 
of southern Europe ; while the pure Saxons alone, of all 
those northern tribes, deserve the name of barbarians. The 
Goths were gentlemen, as times went then, and the Saxons 
human brutes. See Hume on the Heptarchy for the latter 
opinion, and Gibbon's Rome for the former. Without the 
Spanish people of Gothic blood, America, perhaps, would 
have remained undiscovered for centuries to come. Their 
whole history is full of interest, and their country is the 
Paradise of the world. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



While I have dilated, in the hearing of Spaniards, at their 
request, and in their own land, upon our national prosperity, 
the unequalled social and political freedom we enjoy, the 
fertility of the soil, our vast agricultural products, the mag- 
nitude of our commerce, the equality and enterprise of the 
people, their bravery in war and the sincerity of their 
friendship in peace, the absence of a tyrannic nobility and 
aristocracy, the mildness and equity of our laws — often have 
I been interrupted by enthusiastic exclamations, somewhat 
boastful to be sure, but nevertheless true, such as these — 
" We gave you that land ! Here sent we forth Columbus, 
the Great Admiral, and a long line of other' navigators and 
warriors, to discover and conquer a Continent for you !" 
And so they did : and the Spanish people should be held in 
grateful remembrance by all Americans, for their instrumen- 
tality in the creation of a New World, which has fallen to us 
for a possession and an inheritance. For that, they deserve 
the fraternal clasp of close brotherhood at least. What 
other nations and other navigators may have subsequently 
done, in the way of discovery and exploration in America, is 
but as a drop in the bucket, and sinks into insignificance, 
compared with the magnitude and primeval glory of the 
discoveries of Columbus, under the countenance and patronage 
of Isabella of Spain, of the lineage of the Goths. 

What a glorious woman was that Gothic Isabella of Spain ! 
— worth a thousand such meannesses as Elizabeth of England. 
How unfortunate it is, yet how striking is the fact, that in 
inheriting the language and literature of England, we find no 
such noble characters as Isabella adorning its history. Spain 
furnishes in her the brightest example of the dignity of 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



woman, in queenly station ; and in her noble language lies 
hid from us much of the untranslated history of our great 
discoverer Columbus. 

When Columbus broke the egg, to make it stand on its 
end, other people, seeing that it was done, could do so also. 
All the world could engage in discovery after he had led the 
way ; and, after Spain, to Holland first, France next, and 
last and least of all to England, should we give a passing 
regard for the settlement and exploration of " this Conti- 
nent." Let us do justice to France. The credit is due to 
her of penetrating our vast and trackless wilderness, and 
developing the tideless waters of our great lakes, and those 
swift running streams of the west, whose currents u ne'er 
feel retiring ebb." But the direct bequest of Spain to us, 
and to all generations of Americans, of a Continent to live 
upon, new, and fresh, and inviting — a western world of unal- 
loyed liberty of thought and action — should bind us closer to 
her than to any other nation. We owe nothing to England, 
absolutely nothing — except the reversion of our hereditary 
hatred, and our well-reciprocated antipathies. Spain, in 
fact, was our " nursing father and our nursing mother." Let 
us shake hands with her oftener across the water. Colum- 
bus was her son by adoption, and our parent by her crea- 
tion. The glory that he conferred upon Spain was ours also 
by inheritance. We are the only two nations that cherish 
his name ; and it should be and remain a bond between us 
forever. The people of Spain are honest and sincere, and 
there is no trick in their diplomacy, whatever may be their 
form of government at home. As a friend and ally to be 
cherished, and to whom we might extend our kindness and be 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



sure of a noble reciprocity, Spain is worth a score of such 
nations as France and England — the former always selfish 
and insincere, and the latter too arrogant and presuming to 
be fellowshipped by Americans who have any respect for 
themselves. 

For the present let me say that I feel an indescribable 
pleasure and an honest pride as an American, in remember- 
ing that, surrounded by the Spanish people, I have stood 
where Columbus stood, while maturing his plans and his 
then wondrous system of discovery. I have examined and 
read, with infinite satisfaction and interest, the identical 
works which he consulted, both geographical and astronomi- 
cal ; and I have had in my hands and perused others in 
manuscript, which he wrote with his own hand concerning 
America. I have been in the house where he dwelt, wasting 
with deferred hope, but not discouraged, under a deeply 
absorbing, unsatisfied, yet the noblest ambition ; and where 
he diligently sought, in the writings of ancient poets and 
philosophers, and in the prophecies of antiquity, for high 
authorities, foreshadowing and confirming his theories, in order 
to satisfy the skeptical. I have been in the great Cathedral, 
where, when his work was done, and a new world was given 
to Castile and Leon, he worshipped and returned thanks to 
God for his success ; and have heard the sublime and over- 
powering tones of the same splendid organ, (itself an immense 
temple,) that pealed majestically in the solemn Te Deum 
offered as the incense of his praise to The Most Holy. I 
have contemplated the tomb, with a pilgrim's veneration, 
where his body rested for a time, before it was yielded up 
for final repose in American soil. I have seen and consulted 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



the peerless and costly library, rich with the spoils of time, 
collected by himself and that noble son who .was his historian, 
of over twenty thousand volumes of the rarest and most 
useful works then extant, bequeathed for public use, to be 
and remain forever without charge or other restriction, than 
that the applicant should be " decently clad and come with 
clean hands." I have stood by the side of the remains of 
that favorite and noble descendant, who spent his substance 
in founding libraries and schools of navigation ; who was 
true to the fame of his great father, and exulted in the glory 
of Spain, that had adopted and exalted him who had first 
exalted her. And I consider it no small boast to be able to 
say that I have stood in the great halls which contain every 
public paper, every official document still in good preserva- 
tion, relating to and transmitted from America, from the 
time of her discovery downward for more than three centu- 
ries, and from which all our authentic histories are yet to be 
drawn. 

But let me no farther anticipate my purpose. No man, 
except an American, can appreciate the feelings of an Amer- 
ican, surrounded as I was by all that remains of the first 
knowledge of our Continent by civilized man ; and seeing 
and appreciating this, he will readily find an excuse for an 
unintentional digression or episode, on the threshold of a 
voyage hardly as yet undertaken, the memories of which 
crowd upon me so full and so fast, that I hardly know what 
shall be the beginning, or what the ending of that which I 
have to say. The reader will shortly be with me on Spanish 
ground, where, perhaps, in a more appropriate place, my 
observations may be found to keep better pace with the occur- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



rences of the time. I cannot, however, forego the remark, 
on this page, that it would be difficult for us not to honor and 
respect the Spanish people, who possess to the fullest extent, 
and who religiously preserve the original records of our his- 
tory, mingled as it necessarily is with their own — a people 
whose gratification is no less than ours, that they thus pos- 
sess and preserve a tie that should, in all time, bind us 
together as nations. 



64 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE YACHT J. DOOLITTLE SMITH. 

I am bound for Spain. I have had reason to know that 
Amateur Yachting, that is to say, sailing your own Yacht, 
is rather an expensive commodity. Therefore, profiting by 
my experience in that behalf, I sought out the first merchant- 
ship advertised for a Spanish port, and forthwith tumbled 
my traps on board. Had there been a plurality of vessels 
offered, from which I could have selected, and one of them 
had borne a classical or even romantic name, I am not sure 
but my choice would have been determined by that alone, if 
in other things, of far greater importance, the qualities had 
been equal. There are so many Aminidab Browns, Betsy 
Jenkinses, James Croppers, John Thomas Mongins, John 
Peter Skiddys, and the like, in our American mercantile 
marine, indicating the Yankeeism of their paternity, that 
the reader need not to be at all astonished to find my lot 
cast in the good barque " J. Doolittle Smith," hailing from 
somewhere near the sun, " Down East," as we say, and, like 
all the rest of the eastern ships, seeking New- York, as the 
centre of American commerce, for employment. How she 
came by that name it may profit the reader to know. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST 65 



It appears (so the good-natured skipper told me) that 
while the barque was yet upon the stocks, a respectable 
ship-chandler, rejoicing in the name of John Doolittle Smith, 
offered to present the craft a suit of colors, "price sixty 
dollars," provided he could have the naming of her. This 
was too tempting an offer to be disregarded, and lo, upon the 
closing of the bargain, instead of some appropriate, classical, 
or national cognomen, something significant of the earth be- 
low or the heavens above, something historical, astronomical, 
mythological, geographical or fanciful, the owner woke up 
one morning, and found the name of " J. Doolittle Smith" 
painted in capital letters on her stern, and the suit of colors 
flying over head ! It was too late then to repent, or to beg 
for a contraction to the respectable name of " John Smith," 
which would have left him the consolation of the smiles of 
his friends, at least, when they should recognise that old 
acquaintance, who is doomed never to die ; whereas now he 
must look only for unceasing ridicule or derision from the 
multitude. She had been under the baptismal font ; a bottle 
of New England rum had been broken over her nose, and the. 
deed was done. Thus, to the presentation of a suit of colors, 
and an unaccountable perversion of good, taste, we owe nearly 
all the horrific family names, some of them odorous of Moses 
and the Prophets, and of Cromwell's Puritanical rump-parlia- 
ment, which disfigure our ships, and lose to them, in many 
instances, custom, and freight, and passengers. 

"Who would take the Aminadab Brown or Nahum Pease, 
when he may voyage in the Roscius 1 Who would embark 
on board the John Thomas Mongin, when the St. Mary is 
up for the same port 1 Who would select the John Peter 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Skiddy while the New World or America is to be had? 
But for me there was now no choice, — or rather it was 
Hobson's choice, the J. Doolittle Smith, or nothing ! She 
was up for Cadiz, and briskly loading ; a spacious trunk- 
cabin ornamented the deck, with two births for my share of the 
accommodation, one for my dormitory and the other for my 
dunnage; and myself and the " Captain's Lady" (how my 
memory reverts to that charming lady,) the only passengers. 
The captain, two mates, four seaman and a steward made up 
the number of human beings on board ; while a grunter of 
considerable size, and a kitten with a short spike of a tail 
brought on board for the amusement of the cabin, formed the 
secondary grade of animated nature ; and the usual quantity 
of fowls the tertiary. I found, to my great horror and 
annoyance afterwards, when about sailing, a deck-load of 
staves piled Up before the cabin door, excluding air and 
sight, and totally debarring the privilege of walking or 
exercise on the principal deck. Such, however, as she and 
her cargo were, the J. Doolittle Smith took her departure in 
the fulness of time, and " Cesar and his fortunes" were 
embarked in her. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 67 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONCERNING THE DUNNAGE OF A YACHTER. 

Regarding my own equipment on this experimental voyage, 
I found afterwards that I could well have spared one half 
my personel, but the fault, if any, was rather a good one, and 
therefore endurable and excusble ; for if, instead of a surplus, 
I had discovered any deficiency, it would have been the 
more to be regretted, because it could not be remedied at sea, 
where one keenly feels the least privation of his ordinary en- 
joyments. 

For the benefit of some future headlong voyager, who in 
his carelessness may else never think t>f such things until too 
late to procure them, I will here insert a brief inventory of 
what I deemed necessary as an outfit for a voyage across the 
Atlantic in a transient vessel. I ascertained by experience, 
however, that with a slight aggravation of some of the items 
composing my catalogue raisonnee, I might have taken a voy- 
age round the world quite comfortably, without exhausting 
my means of supply. /. 

First of all, then, I made ample preparation for changes of 
climate ; and although the summer was near at hand, I took 



63 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



care to have my winter stock of clothing full and complete, 
in addition to my summer vestments. I reaped the advan- 
tage of this forethought, during a voyage of exceedingly 
variable temperature in the weather ; and I was compensated, 
on many a stormy day, for the laugh indulged in at my ex- 
pense at home, when ordering the resurrection of my mid- 
winter clothing. Leaving the substantials of the provant to 
the skipper, who assured me he was not in the habit of starv- 
ing at sea, and also that he was a temperance man, and only 
carried aqua-fortis enough with him " for medicinal pur- 
poses," I took advantage of the latter hint, and sent on 
board what I was advised would prove consoling and conve- 
nient, in the shape of fluids alcoholic, vinous and maltose, 
accompanied by such fruits as the season afforded, and others 
that were preserved, dried and palatable. Therefore I did 
not suffer in these respects. I found the suggestion con- 
cerning liquids of greater importance than I at first supposed ; 
for although the supply of water was ample, and of the best 
ever furnished for ships since the days of Adam, (namely the 
Croton,) age and occasional sunshine came over it, and truth 
requires I should state that dilution was necessary to make 
it entirely agreeable to the taste. 

The body being in good prospective preservation, the 
mind, it will occur to my readers, should not be deferred be- 
yond the second place in my inventory. And so, a rather 
ample library at home was carefully inspected, and a judi- 
cious, but by no means cumbrous selection made therefrom. 
Among the works which were most useful for reference, I 
will mention that I found M'Culloch quite a gem; and a 
book of travels, published some thirty years ago by M. M. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Noah, Esq., my fellow townsman, who had gone over a good 
deal of the same ground which I had marked out for myself, 
proved exceedingly meritorious and faithful. With but little 
amendment, to keep pace with the interval of time elapsed 
since its publication, it would even now be the best general 
guide for southern Spain that can. be found. Among my 
lighter works, I took Borrow's Bible in Spain; but interest- 
ing as its pages were upon a first perusal, it turned out mea- 
gre and unsatisfactory, when I came to test the information 
it seemed to offer. Byron, whose works I managed to carry 
with the rest, also wrote about Spain in my own time, and 
was therefore somewhat modern. He is not to be relied on 
for any thing substantial — and why should he, being a poetl 
His poetic license, however, has passed quite current for 
truth with many English writers upon Spanish morals, 
who quote him with profound deference ; but what he says, 
giving due credit to the smoothness and sprightliness of his 
versification, must be taken with more than " many grains 
of allowance." To these add some other light works for 
amusement, (and there are many leisure hours at sea,) some 
Spanish elementary and historical books for study, some 
nautical and mathematical works, an old London-made 
quadrant which I used in my boyhood, not forgetting a ther- 
mometer, a spy -glass, and sundry charts, and I have com- 
pleted my literary and scientific department. 

I hardly deemed it worth my while to take the precaution, 
but I did nevertheless consult my family physician as to the 
necessity of a supply of medicines for the voyage, and got 
laughed at for my pains. But in the face of the broad grins 
of that respectable professional gentleman, as well as of those 



70 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

more immediately about me, I procured to be put up a rea- 
sonable store of medical disagreeables, in common use in 
families ; and though I had no occasion to partake of any 
myself, I had the satisfaction to minister to the wants of 
others in that regard, and did not at all regret my fore- 
thought nor the presence of a small but well-assorted medi- 
cine chest. 

I was also careful to make a list beforehand of every other 
necessary item, so that nothing should be forgotten ; which 
may seem a useless particularity to the traveller on shore, 
who has his resources in every village he may chance to stop 
at. I also took care personally to see every thing packed, 
and I advise others to do the same thing : but as these items 
will naturally occur to the mind of every person of common 
prudence who undertakes a voyage by sea, I will not here 
enumerate them. It only remains for me now to finish the 
inventory, by advising that if you go to Spain, or any where 
else up the Mediterranean, to be careful to take a box of 
pure Havanas with you, and accompany the segars with a 
pound or two of Lorillard's best fine-cut tobacco (the best in 
America) packed in an earthern jar, and to add also a jug 
of his best coarse black snuff: Not that you may be addicted 
to any of these, but they are better than silver or gold for 
purposes of bribery ! When you hear any one talk of bri- 
bing an inspector of the customs with money, it will be char- 
itable not to believe him. I hold it to be derogatory to a 
traveller's character to attempt it, or to make the boast. 
But this much I have done without giving offence : I have 
bribed a custom-house, officer, and a soldier on guard, into 
civility of demeanor, by a regalia ; put an organist into the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



best of humors for showing off the power of some old and 
celebrated instrument, with a pinch of snuff; and have 
called down the blessings of several distinguished fathers in 
the church by the odors from a tin tobacco-box labelled 
"Peace and Liberty," and surmounted by the gilded remains 
of a pipe and flowing tankard. 

Touching the per quod, very little needs to be said. It 
will occur to every Yachter, that a tolerably well supplied 
military chest is necessary ; though you have less occasion 
for it in Spain than in any other civilized country. This sub- 
ject, however, will necessarily be the first thought of by the 
traveller. In that country, and throughout the Mediterra- 
nean, gold and silver of Spanish coinage, and the five-franc 
pieces of France are the only current moneys, passing freely 
and without question or discount. English and American 
coin will give you trouble and vexation ; and as to bank notes 
— bah ! they are not worth the paper and blacking of which 
they are made. The nations of. southern Europe fully 
understand the sentiment of Dibden's sailor — 

I'd rather have a guinea than a one pound note, 
Though the guinea will sink and the note will float. 

Now all these preparations may not be strictly necessary 
when you go Yachting in a regular New-York Liner, or in 
those floating American palaces called Steamers, wherein 
your wants are anticipated, and going to sea is deprived of 
all its anxieties and terrors, and made pleasant by the per- 
fect appointment of every thing on board. But ships of this 
class do not sail to ports in Spain, and rarely to any in the 
Mediterranean. But if you sail in your own Yacht, or avail 



72 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

yourself of an occasional or transient vessel, my observations 
and recommendations will be found to apply, and I think will 
be of great value for reference, and all the better for the 
minuteness of the bill of particulars. 

Let me, however, caution my countrymen of two things to 
be especially avoided in going to sea, namely, British mer- 
chant ships — for they are all over slush and grease, and filth, 
and a conglomeration of nastiness ; and British " Royal" 
Steamers, for you run the risk of being insulted by their 
overbearing commanders, who, regardless of your tastes, may 
repeat the outrage already committed on board one of them, 
of placing a sooty negro by your side at the dinner table, or 
mount a runaway African, black as the ace of spades, 
and aromatic " as a southern sun can make him," upon the 
quarter-deck, to insult you with an harangue against Amer- 
ica and Americans ; or the Skipper of one these may shock 
you again, by passing within sight of a ship on fire, where 
hundreds of his fellow countrymen are vainly battling for life 
with the devouring flame, and he will render no assistance. 
There is no romance in these pictures. They have the lin- 
eaments of truth and are notorious ; and my countrymen will 
understand them, and do their duty by themselves and 
humanity by refusing to tolerate British imposition, insult, 
and brutality. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 73 



CHAPTER VIII 



My barque, (why not call her " Yacht," for a ship, you 
know, like the rose, by any other name will smell as sweet,) 
was loaded and ready for sailing on the evening of Thursday 
the 14th day of May, in the year of grace and redemption 
1846, and I confidently expected to sail the next morning ; 
but on rendering myself on Friday at the appointed hour, I 
saw the pilot going ashore, the sailing being delayed until 
the next day, although the wind was fair and leading. I 
ascertained, on making enquiry, that the postponement was 
ordered on account of the day being Friday, and therefore an 
unlucky day to sail. 

Well, thought I, there is something due to the superstition 
of sailors, and I readily yielded, knowing it would be useless 
to argue the matter with the Captain while he entertained 
the notion, especially as his wife chimed in with the signifi- 
cant expression of " Oh law ! we never think of sailing on 
Fridays !" I had knoAvn, however, many whaling vessels 
that had been sent to sea on that particular day of the week, 
in defiance of the prognostics of bad luck ; and they had 

4 



74 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

come home again, safe and sound, after making most fortu- 
nate voyages. In Nantucket, where whalers most do congre- 
gate, (as superstitious, concerning signs and seasons, as any 
other resort of mariners,) I believe it has come to be a favorite 
day of sailing. Perhaps, with such an auspicious beginning, 
the folly may wear out and become obsolete ere long. 

On Saturday the wind was adverse to our sailing out of 
the harbor, and although steam-tugs thronged about us with 
offers to take the ship to sea for a few dollars, the Captain, 
on consultation with his better-half, thought the reasonable 
charge demanded too much to give for a single day's start, 
although the wind would allow us to lay our course fairly out- 
side, and blew freshly and handsomely. Thus was another 
day expended ; and the pilot again left the ship, muttering 
something about " yankee stinginess." 

Sunday came — the luckiest day in the week with sailors. 
Now, thought I, we are to be off without a peradventure. 
Again the pilot was at his post. But the gray mare was still 
in the ascendant. 

" You know, my dear," said she to the Captain, " that 
our last voyage was stormy and unlucky, and the larboard 
bulwark was stove ; and it was owing to nothing else but 
sailing on a Sunday !" 

So the voyage was postponed another day, and I began to 
think seriously of ordering my luggage ashore, and thus I 
hinted the matter to my worthy commander : but he allayed 
my rising impatience by promising positively that on the 
morrow, whether the wind should favor us or not, we should 
see blue water ; and so, finally, it came to pass. We had, 
however, already lost three days of as fine a breeze out- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



side as could be wished, and we felt the want of it after- 
wards. 

Upon the competent authority of some old sea-dogs, I had 
been assured a passage not to exceed twenty-five days in 
duration at this season of the year ; and had we availed our- 
selves of the favorable wind at sea of the last three days, as 
other ships had done, the run would have been even less, as 
I afterwards satisfactorily ascertained. But the " Captain's 
Lady," the sleeping partner in the command, and that mod- 
ern appendage to eastern vessels, had her own way in the 
matter ; and more than ten days were certainly added to the 
estimated length of our voyage in consequence. The Captain 
was obliged (reluctantly I believe) in order to make good his 
promise, to charter a steamer after all — else heaven only 
knows how long we should have been tied to the wharf, wait- 
ing for the wind to change, and the superstitious days to pass 
by, or the " captain's lady" to give the order to sail. 

In the language of the Log I may remark that " these 
twenty -four hours begin" with skies overcast and symptoms 
of a storm ; but it becomes me to add that the day terminates 
with hopeful anticipations of the future — and so this chapter 
ends with a smile upon its countenance. 



76 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE JOURNAL AND THE LOG. THE FIRST DAY. 

Monday, May 18, 1846.— At 6 o'clock, A. M. the pilot 
came on board, and the wind being still adverse to our working 
into the open bay, where, once being fairly placed, we could 
lay our course to Sandy Hook, a small steamboat was lashed 
alongside and we cast off our fastenings from the wharf. 
The end of our delays had come, and we were fairly under 
weigh, as I thought ; and I began to felicitate myself accord- 
ingly. This whistling before one gets clear of the woods, or 
feels his ship bobbing up and down upon blue water for a 
certainty and admitting of no dispute, ought not to be 
indulged in, for it may prove a premature self-gratulation. 
It proved so in my case. My pleasant anticipations were 
cut short, almost in the beginning, by the discovery that one 
of our sailors, caught in some man-trap ashore, perhaps, had 
absented himself without leave. Short handed as we were, 
with only the complement of men I have mentioned elsewhere, 
we were obliged to cast anchor off the Battery, until the place 
of the delinquent could be supplied. This was no great 
matter to be sure, but it took time, and the tide was fast 
escaping from under foot. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 77 



After towing us to an anchorage, where we were enabled 
to make a reach through the Narrows with the aid of our 
sails close-hauled, we cast our mud-hook, and the steamer 
left us with the captain on board, who returned to the shore 
to drum up a recruit. Here we lay full four hours. In the 
mean time, the fore and maintopsails were hauled out, and 
the cable hove short preparatory for another move, when it 
should be our destiny to receive the order to " cut stick," 
and make the final attempt to work out of the harbor. At 
last, when hope was in her last agonies, we 'spied the ship's 
boat coming off; and directly the Captain, and a new hand 
summarily shipped, tumbled over the sides, and the anchor 
was tripped and hove up. 

After tacking several times in the bay, the wind died 
away and the tide came in against us. Did we drop anchor 
again in this extremity ? Of course we did ; and we had 
the satisfaction of seeing ship after ship pass by us, aided by 
steam tuggers, and spread their sails outside the Hook, where 
a fine breeze had been stirring all day. 

At 4 Post Meridian a thunder-storm came up from the 
west, and the pilot, out of patience, like myself, made prepa- 
ration to take advantage of the approaching gale, which came 
down upon us rather ferociously. Up anchor again ; and 
spreading our sails, away we went before the wind, careering 
like a race-horse, with a " bone in the mouth !" The like- 
ness of the " bone" is somewhat equivocal, and will be taken 
to apply to the ship, I trust, and not to the horse. 

When within two miles of Sandy-Hook light, the horizon 
and land and light-house were all shut out from our view in 
an instant, by the driving rain and scud. 



78 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

" Stand by to let go the anchor !" shouted somebody in 
authority. u Noyoudont !" said the pilot in an undertone ; 
iC the ship's going to sea this time, by the living Jingo VI 

True to his word, he took his place at the wheel and 
ordered the lead to be kept going in the chains. In a few 
minutes afterwards the dense fog lighted up, the drift lifted, 
and we discovered the light-house under our lee. The mo- 
tion of the swell, acting upon the ship, told us, plainly 
enough, that we were now out at sea. A signal was set 
which brought a relief pilot-boat down to us. We bid 
good-bye to the pilot in rather a fierce storm of rain and 
wind, and held on our way, laying our course E. S. E. the 
wind at N. N. W., Sandy-Hook bearing N. W., distant 5 
miles, from which we took our departure. 

Before night-fall we deepened our water and left the light 
green of the soundings for the dark blue of the sea. And 
now for Cadiz ! — with merry hearts, smiling faces, and no 
more anchoring before reaching the promised land !— Hark, 
the supper bell rings, and we dive to partake of our first 
meal at sea, which we despatch with an earnestness befit- 
ting the purity of the salt air of the ocean ; a wonderful 
sharpener of the human appetite, by the way. — But avast, 
and a-lack-a-day ! Here the steward is called for some of us. 

THE SECOND DAY. 

Tuesday, May 19. — -My sea-sickness, a certain indefi- 
nable and indescribable u all-over -ness," which caught me 
last evening after that hearty and ill-advised supper, contin- 
ues throughout this day at intervals. It is best to let it 
take its course, I think ; and so I do nothing but make wry 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



faces. At sea, heretofore, I have found no inconvenience 
from this much-dreaded malady, and 1 nattered myself that 
I was ocean-proof in that respect. I take comfort in antici- 
pating better health after " the spell" is over ; and also in 
the belief that it will relieve me from a sort of tightness of 
the forehead, approaching to headache, which I have felt at 
sea, for an entire voyage, as if a band of iron was screwed 
around the head. Therefore I am somewhat thankful for 
the stormy weather and high winds of yesterday and to-day, 
which have stirred up old Ocean, and also my bile. I could 
not have believed that I had so much bitterness in me — in 
me, forsooth, who, all the world knows, have acquired an 
enlarged celebrity for never-flagging good nature and even- 
ness of temper ! 

At 12 o'clock this day we have made an offing of 128 miles. 
I leave my native land without sighing, knowing that I am 
Yachting for pleasure, and will return to it in a few months, 
(barring accidents,) almost without being missed from the 
great hive of human beings left behind. My feelings would 
be vastly otherwise if I deemed that I am taking final 
leave of a country so worthy of my esteem above all others, 
and which I love with a veneration almost amounting to 
idolatry. 

At noon, our Latitude by D. R. is 39° 50' N., and our 
Longitude by D. R. 72° 29' W. No observation with the 
quadrant, and our chronometer is not yet put in requisition. 

THE THIRD DAY. 

Wednesday, May 20. — Old Ocean, hail ! Richard's him- 
Belf again ! Sea sickness avaunt ! This day I devote, in 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



part, to arranging nry library and other traps, including a 
few nautical and mathematical instruments, with which I. 
took care to provide myself. My fine old-fashioned quadrant, 
with other practical aids, enables me to revive the knowledge 
of the science of navigation which I acquired in my boyhood. 
At noon, I commence taking the altitude of the sun, and 
work up my day's work with as much precision as the officers, 
taking care to keep a journal and log-book in the ordinary 
form of such nautical records. Thanks to my old teacher, 
Captain Richardson, (whom many a captain now in the 
service may remember, as an excellent mathematician and 
teacher of navigation, at the corner of Fulton-slip and 
Water-street,) I am enabled to put in practice many valuable 
lessons which I derived from him in my youth. Heaven rest 
his soul — he is dead now ! When a boy, seated in his smoky 
school-room, on my first theoretical voyage, how well I re- 
member running my ship plump ashore. How that stump 
of an arm of his (for he had but one arm) beat up and down 
in anger ! It was an unpardonable fault of mine. 

" God's wull, lad, but ye're a braw chiel !" said he, 
and threw down my chart in an agony of rage. I had 
worked up the courses and distances of three days' work, 
without "pricking down" each day by itself on the 
chart as he directed me ; and the voyage being one of my 
own invention, (from New- York to Liverpool,) I made large 
work of it, (ten knots an hour wasn't a " circumstance,") 
and got my ship across the Atlantic in thirteen days. But 
when I came to lay down the last day's work on the chart, 
I shall never forget the horror I felt at finding myself and 
my ship in the middle of Ireland ! The offending leaf in my 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



log-book was torn out by the old captain amidst a torrent of 
passionate abuse, and I was obliged to work my imaginary 
ship carefully round the southern coast of Ireland, and so 
into the port of Liverpool, taking plenty of sea-room to avoid 
accidents ; and you may be sure that I never afterwards 
followed the example of the captain, who 

" Gave the mate command, 
To sail the vessel over land." 

I discovered to-day that one of our seamen had a serious 
touch of the horrors, or that " delicious trembling" which 
hard drinkers experience after a debauch. His liquor, with 
which he had kept himself constantly inebriated for a week 
past while ashore, was all gone; and in his consequent 
depression, and fright, and agony, he was the object of the 
sport rather than the commiseration of the rest of the crew. 
He believed he was going to die, and that his time had come. 
The devils had called for him ; and one stood at the forecas- 
tle slowly beckoning him with his forefinger, as much as to 
say, " Tumble up here, Jack, you're wanted !" Poor fellow, 
he had " put an enemy into his mouth to steal away his 
brains," and was now suffering the torments of the damned. 
I put my medicine-chest in requisition, and in a few hours I 
set him on his legs again ; and, with a " hair of the same 
dog," to top off with, he was set at hard and active work for 
the rest of the day, by my recommendation ; and we heard 
no more of his blue devils. Henceforth temperance prevailed, 
" in a great measure," on board the J. Doolittle Smith. 

Latitude 39° 30' N., Longitude U° 1' W. 

4* 



TEE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 



Thursday, May 21. — We have made 160 miles of nearly 
an easterly course for the last 24 hours ; and I find my 
quadrant and dead reckoning agree as to the Latitude, 
39° 14' N. — Mean Longitude, by Chronometer, for noon, 
66° 18'. Entered the Gulf Stream about midnight, which 
we discovered by the sudden change in the temperature 
of the water indicated by the Thermometer; air 62°, 
gulf 73°. 

Thus far we have had a fine run from the land, making 
good our course E. S. E., and have sailed about four hun- 
dred miles since our departure. Our ship is constantly 
followed by a flight of small birds, called " Mother Carey's 
Chickens," (every body has something to say about these 
chickens,) very much in appearance like the little sand-bank 
martin on shore. They never light on the ship, but follow 
in her wake, skimming the surface of the sea in the roughest 
weather. To-day a small bird, like our black-bird of the land, 
came on board, greatly distressed with fatigue. Our little 
kitten, scarcely old enough to walk, at once instinctively 
bristled up towards the winged intruder, and it was amusing, 
(very little things amuse one at sea,) to witness with what 
courage and determination it stuck up its short apology for a 
tail while chasing the bird about deck. We caught the 
bird at last, and saved it for the time from the fangs of little 
puss ; but its great fatigue, being a land-bird, and on the 
wing doubtless for several days past, overcame the little 
stranger, and it ceased to live in a few hours after gaining 
the ship. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



THE FIFTH DAY. 

Friday, May 22. — A fine day's work for the last 24 hours ; 
200 miles further on our course, aided by the current of the 
Gulf Stream. Lat. at noon 38° 32' N., Long. 62° 14' W. 
The Thermometer indicated the same temperature as when 
last noted. I find the officers all good seamen, and faithful 
and attentive in their duties, and the sailors are no lands- 
men. 

All things having settled down into a most agreeable quiet, 
interrupted only by the ordinary routine of the ship's 
business, spinning yarns or story -telling, a never-failing 
source of amusement at sea, commences in good earnest. 
Our first officer is brim full of " story," especially of the 
nautical kind. His experience (having been once a captain 
himself,) has been a good deal among Yankee coasters, and 
he does not spare his brethren who have furnished instances 
of the ludicrous. 

For example, he knew one Down Easter, whose name was 
familiar to all on board, who traded regularly in an " East- 
ern tub," from the State of Maine to the West Indies, who 
was, and is to this day, entirely ignorant of the principles of 
scientific navigation, and never properly worked up a day's 
work in his life. On being questioned how he was able 
to get along successfully, he answered — " Why, sir, I push 
my "tub" on down South until I bring the North Star 
over my tanrail, and then I know it is time to haul up ; and 
I stick her in west'ard, and always hit the island, sure /" 
It was remarked, however, as a nautical wonder, that he al- 
ways made his passages in good time, and never missed the 



84 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

place of his destination. The polar star, the Tyrian Cyno- 
sure, by which he steered, was the only guide of the ancients 
for more than twenty centuries. The feat is therefore neither 
new nor wonderful after all. 

Another " Down East," captain of the same species, tried 
in vain, for several weeks, to hit the Bermudas ; and coming 
back in despair, reported that he had "sailed all over the 
spot where they used to be," and seriously gave out that 
they were sunk ! This story, about the sinking of the 
"vexed Bermoothes," is decidedly Jo. Millerish. 

Another commander of the same family, being recom- 
mended to try a Chronometer, whose virtues in determining 
longitude he had heard greatly extolled, returned the instru- 
ment to the maker, after the voyage, exclaiming with sov- 
reign contempt, " D— n the thing ; I put it in my binnacle, 
and didn't find that the schooner went a bit the better for it ! 
It's of no use any how you can fix it." A good story, that ! 

But enough for to-day. These yarns, told with the true 
Down Eastern nasal intonation, (is it a constitutional disease 
of the nose, or a whine acquired in their district schools ?) 
were greatly amusing ; and I am sorry to say they are 
" ower true." Symptoms to-day of the " Captain's Lady" 
keeping a log and studying navigation. Very Well, my lady : 
— you will find the study quite refreshing ! Queen Victoria, 
she says, has dipped deeply into the mysteries of navigation, 
and why shouldn't other women do the same thing ? 

THE SIXTH DAY. 

Saturday, May 23. — Lat. by Obs. the same as yesterday, 
38° 32' N., notwithstanding our course by compass has been 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



considerably to the South of East. The action of the Gulf 
Stream, and the westerly variation of the compass will 
explain the matter to nautical men. Long, by Chronometer 
59° 02' W. Thermometer in the air 58°, gulf 70°. 

This day we came near running foul of the trunk of an 
immense tree, which doubtless had once been a " snag" or a 
" sawyer" in the Mississippi, and had found its way, by the 
course of the current, some two thousand miles from the 
place of its nativity. I have seen trees of that enormous 
size growing no where except upon the banks of the " father 
of waters." We now see much sea-weed and many " Por- 
tuguese men-of-war," by some called the " Nautilus." 
Although very beautiful ' and varied in color, some showing 
their tiny sails of pure white, others of blue and crimson, 
they are not in other respects like the true nautilus, which 
possesses a shell, and has the power of withdrawing its 
sails and sinking in the water at the approach of danger ; 
but have long, slimy integuments or feelers, not unlike the 
roots of a tree, or a huge cancer, with which they balance 
themselves and perhaps move upon the surface of the sea. 

The water in the gulf, it will be seen by the indication of 
the thermometer, (a very useful instrument by the way in 
navigating the Atlantic,) varies greatly from that of the at- 
mosphere above it, and also from the water upon its edges. 
The Gulf Stream is a most singular natural wonder ; but, to 
my judgment, it does not appear to be well accounted for 
nor understood by those, who, from time to time, have under- 
taken to describe it. As an object of scientific investiga- 
tion it is worthy of being undertaken by the government, in 
a manner fully as thorough as our Coast-Survey ; but, as 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



yet, we have had nothing but the partial and crude experi- 
ments of transient navigators, which are frequently calculated 
to mislead. That the stream, with wonderful peculiarities, 
exists, we know ;. but its origin, its power, its extent and its 
locality, (if it has a permanent one,) are yet to be ascertained 
with certainty. As yet the thermometer is the best indica- 
tor of its vicinity ; and in crossing it, or taking advantage of 
its force, a liberal allowance should always be made for 
its current as a course and distance ; otherwise a considera- 
ble error may occur in your reckoning, unless an accurate 
chronometer is at hand, and a good observation by the quad- 
rant is daily attainable, to place the ship in her true position 
on the chart. 

Some of the particulars of this great current, are thus 
noticed in Blachford's a West India Directory," published in 
London in 1839 :— 

1. The stream passes along the coast of the United States 
at a distance that varies according to the state of the wind, 
but which at a medium may be considered at twenty leagues. 

2. In proportion as it moves from its source, its breadth 
increases and its velocity diminishes. 

3. On entering it the soundings are lost, or at least the 
ground is found only at a very great depth. 

4. The sign for knowing when the ship is in this great 
current, or Gulf Stream, is the color of the water ; which in 
the stream is of a dark blue, while that of the ocean is of a 
light blue, and that within soundings along the coast is 
greenish. The water of the stream, examined in a glass, is 
colorless, like that between the tropics ; and it contains 
more salt than the ocean on each side of it. Meeting with a 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 87 



quantity of sea-weed on the water is also a sign, which, 

although it does not certainly show the ship to be in the 

stream, is nevertheless a sufficient indication of its proximity. 

5. The heat of the water in the Gulf Stream is greater 

than that in the ocean, as was found by experiments made 

by Mr. Jonathan Williams, who sailed from the Chesapeake 

in December, 1783, and observed it to be as follows : 

The ocean, within soundings on the coast . -. . 47° 

A little before entering the stream . . . . . 60° 

In the stream 70° 

Off Newfoundland, out of the current .... 54° 

Off the Bank, in the open sea 60° 

In approaching the coast of England . . . .- 48° 
In June, 1791, by Capt. Billing off the coast of 

America 61° 

Further soundings in the current ..... 77° 
I refer to my abstract inserted at the end of this journal, 
which will show pretty much the same phenomena. 

I have learned by the public prints, since my return to 
America, that a chart has been prepared by government 
from authentic data, which places this great current in a 
reliable position. 



THE SEVENTH DAY. 



Sunday, May 24. — The sky being overcast, we are 
unable to take an observation of the sun to-day. Lat. by 
D. R. 38° 22' N., Long. 58° 14' W. Thermometer— air, 
68° ; gulf, (the same as yesterday,) 70°. Wind light and 
baffling, and weather pleasant. Our knotting only 53 miles 
for the last 24 hours, including the set of the current. 



89 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

The sea is nearly calm, with scarcely wind enough to 
ruffle its surface. The sailors have all knock'd off work, 
and the stillness that reigns on board, save an occasional 
and lazy slap of the sails, seems to be like that of a quiet 
Sunday ashore. This has been rather an eventful day, in 
small matters, notwithstanding. We passed a great number 
of Portuguese men-of-war, of almost every variety of color. 
A large Italian jar came floating by, probably filled with oil 
and olives ; who knows 1 It was still corked and sealed, but 
it had been in the water so long that small barnacles had 
clustered upon the outside. Presently we passed a sub- 
stantial and well-made iron-bound hogshead. This the cap- 
tain thought was too good a prize to be lost, as it would make 
a capital water cask. Accordingly the skipper, strongly 
tempted, put the ship about, and we caught it, and hoisted 
the prize ori board. I know not whether the captain was 
aware that this little deviation from his course would prejudice 
the ship in her insurance, if accident should take place after- 
wards ; but such is the tendency of the law. He also ren- 
dered his ship liable to an unusual length of quarantine by 
taking the cask on board. The mate deemed the matter of 
sufficient importance to note it in the log, of which more 
hereafter. The hogshead had several marks which may, per- 
haps, lead to a knowledge of the disaster by which it got 
overboard. It had contained porter, and was marked'" Phil- 
adelphia," with the name of the brewer. It was covered, on 
the side which sank most in the water, with the largest bar- 
nacles I ever saw. They appeared to be hideous animals — 
a sort of half clam, half worm affair, with strong forceps by 
which they eat into a ship's bottom and utterly destroy the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



planking. They had just fairly begun upon the hogshead, 
but had not punctured it so far as to injure it materially. 
They " opened their clam " in a few hours afterwards ; and 
so " died, leaving no sign " to their posterity. 

THE EIGHTH DAY. 

Monday, May 25.— Lat. by Obs. 39° 41' N., Long, by 
Chronometer, 56° IT' W. Thermometer, air 66° ; gulf 73°. 
Variation of the compass f ° westerly, and increasing gradu- 
ally as we diminish our longitude. 

The weather is fine, and another delightful day has fallen 
to our lot for enjoyment. We are now, after a week's 
absence, more than one thousand miles from the port of our 
departure, and consequently have made one-third of our 
distance from New- York to Cadiz — not bad progress by any 
means, in so short a time. But pleasant weather and favor- 
able winds will not always last ; and, even while I am writing, 
the wind is hauling adversely, compelling us to alter our 
course a few points to the North. 

Our captain, in a very friendly manner, admits me into 
the mysteries of his navigation, for which I hold myself his 
debtor. If I do not overrate my practical improvement 
(having already a good theoretical knowledge of the art) I 
shall soon be able to navigate a ship comme ilfaut. I once 
took passage with an " old hunks," who prided himself on 
belonging to the " old school of Captains;" and it appeared 
to me, at the time, that he strove to make himself as dis- 
agreeable to his passengers as possible. His latitude and 
longitude were always a profound secret, which nobody on 
board but himself was permitted to know ; his charts were 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



locked up securely in his state-room ; and as to his spy-glass, 
it was an instrument altogether too valuable to be looked 
through, and was kept sacred from the touch of the profane. 
Things have greatly altered since then. A new race of 
captains has sprung up ; and one may take his quadrant 
along now-a-days, and compare observations with the com- 
mander without offence. 

It is, of all things, most satisfactory to passengers to know 
daily where they are, and what progress they have made ; 
and it costs so little on the part of a skipper to render his 
passengers happy and cheerful, throughout even the longest 
voyage, that it is truly marvellous why the phenomena of a 
passage are not explained by him, with uniform readiness and 
good will, whenever information is sought to be obtained. 
A species of imprisonment, (for such it becomes in a few 
days, on board even the best-appointed ship, especially in 
stormy weather,) is thus quite easily relieved, and the most 
pleasurable recollections of a sea-life are the consequence. 
For myself, I contrive to extract amusement from even so 
small a fact as the difference in the altitude, obtained by my 
old quadrant, and that of two others on board of more modern 
construction. I differ with them, severally, five and three 
minutes, daily. But this disagreement is so easily made by the 
degree of closeness with which the observer brings the sun 
to the horizon, that an instrument, although very ancient, 
should not be hastily condemned therefor. In fact, one of 
my cotemporary navigators confesses that he " leaves the 
width of a straw, or the thickness of a piece of twine" (why 
not a .■ piece of chalk," as well?) between the sun and the 
horizon ; and with that confession I hold myself for the present 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



excused for differing with him. I obtain a greater altitude 
than the others ; and, though the laugh is at present against 
me, I intend to stick to my " fast quadrant," as I call it, be- 
cause it keeps ahead of the others by the number of minutes 
aforesaid. I will not allow any thing to the discredit of an 
old friend without irrefragable proof; and as the instrument, 
in other hands, has had the advantage of navigating a ship 
several times round the world, safely and satisfactorily, I will 
stand by it until I find its truth and accuracy disproved by 
a trial observation, at some known point where the latitude 
is well ascertained. So take care, gentlemen, lest some sun- 
shiny day I turn the tables on you, with my fine old London- 
made instrument, bearing the private mark of the astronomi- 
cal agent of the " Honorable the Board of Admiralty !" And 
take care, again, for I am testing the rate of your Chronome- 
ter with uncommon jealousy ; and if I catch it tripping, O, 
la ! — what a breeze I'll raise. Such crowing from a landsman 
you will seldom hear afterwards ! In the mean time I " says 
no thin' and keeps shady." 

THE NINTH DAY. 

Tuesday, May 26.— Lat. by Obs. 40° 48' N., Long. 
53° 24' W. Wind dead ahead. Thermometer— air 62° ; 
gulf 72°. Saw five vessels bound westerly, but none within 
hail. 

This day has not been productive of any extraordinary 
incident. Matters go on in the usual routine. I have been 
trying to read for amusement, but it is almost out of the 
question : — the novelty of the scene around me, and the fine 
weather aloft, are such that I cannot long confine myself to 



92 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

any one object. It is not desirable that I should. I came 
to sea to unbend, and to forget professional business — of 
which, good lack, I have had enough in my life-time. Dolce 
far niente is the order of the day. The ship, although a 
transient vessel, is admirably well found in provisions ; and 
our steward, an industrious, shrewd and pains-taking yankee 
from Marblehead, deserves a passing compliment. He fur- 
nishes quite a variety to our table ; his cookery is excellent, 
and void of the profusion of grease, which most ships appear 
to luxuriate in ; and withal I bring to the table an appetite 
that relishes every thing — except " mahogany. '- 

THE TENTH DAY. 

Wednesday, May 27. — Wind still ahead, and now 
blowing a gale. Very stormy. No observation of the sun. 
Lat. by D. R. 40° 23' ; Long, by D. R. 54° 07'. Thermom- 
eter — air 64° ; water 65°. 

The direction of our ship has been changed to S. S. W., 
and hence we have not made any headway on our course ; in 
fact we have been obliged by the force of the gale to shape 
our course somewhat homeward. The day has been passed 
by all on board in a most uncomfortable manner. The sea 
is high, boisterous, cross and uneas}^. It is impossible to 
remain at ease in any position ; and though we attempt to 
obtain repose in our births, and stow ourselves away to avoid 
being knocked about among trunks and crockery, we are 
obliged to hold on hard to keep ourselves from being spilt 
out upon the cabin floor. I have heard of its taking two 
men with handspikes to keep another man's hat on in a gale ; 
and there was a parallel necessity, to-day, for several individ- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 93 



uals with capstan-bars to keep you from falling out of your 
birth. Our northing was pretty well up towards the " Tail 
of the Grand Bank;" and the sudden falling of our Ther- 
mometer, when immersed in the sea, gave us the reason of 
the cause of the great commotion around us. We were on 
the edge of the gulf, and the storm and high seas were all in 
character. 

Our first mate sent for me on deck to take a fair look at 
the angry sea. I remained long enough, in the deluge of the 
rain-storm and overpowering gale, to hear him spin a yarn 
from his never failing fund of ancedote. " I once sailed," 
said he, " with a passenger hailing from Buffalo, in York 
State, who kept insisting that the lakes upon the borders of 
New-York had bigger seas and harder gales than were ever 
experienced on the ocean. One day, when we had a storm, 
a perfect match for this, I thought I could out-brag him a 
little ; and so I got him on deck. l There sir,' said I, 
' have you ever seen any thing to match that, on your York 
lakes?' He looked a moment, aghast — c Hell and Scissois /' 
exclaimed he, C I give up to that /' and down he dived into 
the cabin perfectly satisfied. I heard no more after that," 
said the mate, " of the big seas and the awful storms upon 
the lakes, from the Buffalo-man." 

The short comment of that Buffalonian, is about the best 
I have seen, or heard of, tending vividly to illustrate a storm 
at sea. You might as well undertake to describe that which 
you have never seen or of which you have not the ghost of 
an idea, as to attempt to describe a storm successfully, so 
that the uninitiated reader will realize it ; and having seen 
and felt this storm, and yet feeling the subject too vast, not to 



94 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

say too horrific for description or utterance, I think I must 
knock under to the Buffalonian's view of the case. His 
ejaculation smacks somewhat of a boundless and angry 
whirlpool, which may be likened to a " Hell of waters," 
jumping and wallopping, resistless and overwhelming, to the 
very high-top -gallant of the bent of confusion, the gale all 
the while playing a thousand shrieking tunes among the 
cordage, each rope, according to its size, pitching its own 
devil's key in a high major scream. 

I think I remember one American author, of the big-swelling 
bladder school, who published an account of a storm at sea, 
evidently thinking it was convincing and magnificent, and 
he began his story by stating that he had written it during 
that great commotion which he was about describing. In 
the first place he could not write it, if the storm was a storm, 
like the man's " boots that were boots." Independent of 
the anxiety, which most men feel in such situations, (my 
anxiety was to hold on, and not get my braiijs knocked out 
by being pitched head over heels across the cabin,) I say, 
independent of this natural anxiety, you might as well try to 
write or compose while you are driving a gig swiftly over the 
ruts of an old unrepaired country road, or over the paving 
stones of our great city, in the streets where the omnibii most 
do run races. However, he began by saying something 
like this ; " I determined," said he, " to describe a storm at 
sea while it was yet raging. The mountain billows mounted 
mast high, and reached the heavens ; the ship pitched into 
the great and hollow gulf between, with a ponderosity and an 
impulse which seemed ready to send her to the bottom ; she 
rose again, deluged in the briny flood, to mount the topmost 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 95 



pinnacle of the mountain billow ; and there she tottered and 
trembled, for a moment, between Heaven and earth," &c. 
I think he must have waited for calm weather to make his 
billows stretch out to this alarming altitude. It takes a 
shorter and angrier sea than this description implies, to make 
the matter fearful, dangerous, and " unearthly," to the sea- 
man's comprehension ; and his billows are altogether too tall 
for the belief of any body but a landsman. The marines, 
being quasi gentlemen by their station, might listen to the 
relation respectfully ; but sailors would give a double hitch 
(right and left) to their tarry breeches, shift their quid, and 
remain unbelievers. 

In regard to the magnitude of the waves of the sea, of 
which in their anger we had more than was agreeable to-day, 
Arnott, in his Elements of Physics, is good authority, and 
deserves to be remembered by those who discourse with such 
general exaggeration on the subject. I have seen another 
authority, however, which estimates the highest elevation 
and lowest depression of the waves, at double those of 
Arnott, namely 20 feet above the level of the sea, and 40 
feet from the depth of the hollow or trough. 

" The velocity of waves," he says, " has relation to their 
magnitude. Some large waves proceed at the rate of from 
30 to 40 miles an hour. It is a vulgar belief that the water 
itself advances with the speed of the wave ; but, in fact, the 
form only advances, while the substance^ except a little 
spray above, remains rising and falling in the same place, 
according to the laws of the pendulum. A wave of water, 
in this respect, is exactly imitated by the wave running 
along a stretched rope, when one end of it is shaken ; or by 



96 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

the mimic waves of our theatres, which are generally the 
undulations of long pieces of carpet moved by attendants. 
But when a wave reaches a shallow bank or beach, the water 
becomes really progressive ; because, then, as it cannot sink 
directly downwards, it falls over and forwards, seeking its 
level. So awful is the spectacle of a storm at sea, that it is 
generally viewed through a medium which biases the judg- 
ment ; and, lofty as waves really are, imagination makes 
them loftier still. No wave rises more than ten feet above 
the ordinary level ', which, with the ten feet that its surface 
afterwards descends below this, gives twenty feet for the 
whole height from the bottom of any water-valley to the sum- 
mit. This proportion is easily proved by trying the height 
upon a ship's mast, at which the horizon is always in sight 
over the tops of the waves ; allowance being made for acci- 
dental inclinations of the vessel, and for her sinking in the 
water too much below her water-line, at the instant when she 
reaches the bottom of the hollow between the two waves. 
The spray of the sea, driven along by the violence of the 
wind, is of course much higher than the summit of the liquid 
wave ; and a wave, coming against an obstacle, may dash to 
almost any elevation above it." 

I afterwards saw waves, which would answer the descrip- 
tion of those spoken of by Arnott, being very high and boist- 
erous, suddenly beaten to an apparently flat surface by the 
furious Levanters of the Mediterranean and the bay of 
Cadiz. 

THE ELEVENTH DAY. 

Thursday, May 28.— No Obs. Lat. by D. R. 39° 17' N., 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Long, by D. R. 53° 09' W. Thermometer— air 64° ; sea 
62°. The wind, after blowing a gale and ahead all night, 
came up from the South early this morning ; and we lay our 
course Easterly once more. In a few hours we made up for 
all our losses of yesterday ; when it began to rain again furi- 
ously, which stilled the waves, and, much to our regret, 
stilled the winds also. A dead calm ensued which lasted for 
six hours. 

THE TWELFTH DAY. 

Friday, May 29.— Lat. by Obs. 39° 20' N., Long, by 
Chronometer, 52° 11' W. Thermometer— air 67° ; sea 64°. 
These 24 hours have produced very little else than calms 
and very light winds. Our progress has therefore been 
small. The sea, although not agitated immediately around 
us by wind, is nevertheless very uneasy ; and the ship, a 
good deal too " active in a calm," (as the sailors say,) rolled 
unpleasantly, owing to the heavy swell of some Western 
storm. That a gale is preferable to such an uneasy calm, is 
the vote of all on board. The rain has been excessive, and 
the cabin and our clothing are " dem'd uncomfortably 
moist." Every thing you handle seems slushed with an 
atmospheric grease, and the floor itself is slippery "to a 
degree." The melancholy hue of all things, above and 
below, is ^by no means relieved by the knowledge of the pro- 
gress we have made, which, for several days past, has been 
a series of long and short legs, up and down the Atlantic, 
but no headway on our course withal. Let us comfort our- 
selves with the old song, and " Look forward with hope for 
to-morrow !" 



98 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

THE THIRTEENTH DAY. 

Saturday, May 30.— Lat. by Obs. 38° 50' N., Long, by 
D. R. 50° 45' W. Thermometer— air 6Q° ; sea 71°. 

The weather has changed for the better. The day has 
been pleasant and the wind steady, but light. The Ther- 
mometer seems to indicate that we are getting back into the 
Gulf Stream again. 

THE FOURTEENTH DAY. 

Sunday, May 31.— Lat. by Obs. 38° 22' N., Long, by 
D. R. 47° 23'. 

This day the wind is high from E. N. E., but favorable 
for our ship ; and hauling to the N. E., we are enabled to lay 
our course pretty nearly. The sea is again quite uneasy, 
owing to the swell from a cross quarter, and the vessel rolls 
disagreeably, as usual under such circumstances. It is diffi- 
cult, at times, either to sit, lie, or stand, even while holding 
fast of the rail of the birth or the side of the table. As for 
walking steadily, that is impossible. While you think your- 
self secure on one side, a sudden lurch sends you over to the 
other, and you are fortunate if you can bring up by pitching 
into the opposite birth. Our last 24 hours are encouraging 
however. The Yacht, give her but a chance, is a fair sailer. 
We have diminished our direct distance to Cadiz some three 
degrees to-day, and are making 7 knots good; though 
we have been for a long time, and are now, as close to the 
wind as we can possibly brace our sails. Oh, for a wind of 
some four hundred horse power — just three points abaft the 
beam ! 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 99 



THE FIFTEENTH DAY. 



Monday, June 1. — This is about the most stormy and 
uncomfortable day we have yet had. Verily we are tried as 
with martyrdom. The gale is very high from the North. 
The roughest sort of sea prevails, and between that, which 
occasionally breaks over the deck, and the outpouring of a 
constant rain, we are quite contented, (that is, those who 
have the privilege,) to remain under cover in the cabin. 
Our sail is reduced to fore and main double-reefed topsails, 
with a spenser and fore stay-sail — quite as much as the ship 
can stagger under ; and, although so much reduced, our pro- 
gress is very great notwithstanding — 168 miles in the last 
24 hours. The Yacht rides like a duck, with the most 
admirable qualities of a sea-boat; but the enormous seas, 
taking her sideways, cause her to roll prodigiously, and it 
is evident that her masts and sticks would slap overboard, 
were they not stayed in the most substantial manner. We 
catch a sea, once in a while, which washes our decks fore 
and aft. This is the first time I have seen the spray in 
such large masses combing over us. Were I not certain that 
no sea ever rises over forty feet from its base, I should be 
tempted to call these " mountains," before and around us, 
into which we plunge every minute, alternately rising on their 
tops and diving into frightful and angry gulfs. It seems a 
miracle when we rise out of them. No observation this day; 
the sun " disdains to shine" on us. Lat. by D. R. 37° 26' 
N., Long, by D. R. 43° 50' W. 

THE SIXTEENTH DAY. 

Tuesday, June 2. — The wind-storm and high seas still 



100 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

continue ; but we are enabled to put more sail on the vessel, 
which, although it buries the ship a good deal, crowds her 
onward more rapidly. The rolling motion, which is infinitely 
disagreeable under any circumstances, produces many mis- 
haps in the cabin. It is part of the Romance of Yachting 
that the soup finds its way into your lap with unavoidable 
certainty, and the knives and forks, and plates and tumblers, 
by a natural gravitation, find a landing place on the floor, 
creating what our Jonathan would call an " eternal smash." 
You may consider yourself lucky if the forks do not stick into 
your flesh in falling. 

The moon changes this day, and our mariners predict fair 
weather thereupon. But why should the moon influence the 
weather at all? Answer that, Master Brook. Her face, 
and the same face with but the slightest allowance for libra- 
tion, is always turned towards us with the most mannerly 
decorum. She never turns her back upon you ; and surely 
the reflected light of the sun upon it, giving it simply its 
fulness, or its gilded quarters to the eye, can have no influence 
either upon the earth, or its storms, or, what is still more im- 
probable, upon the human body. Away with that astronomi- 
cal nonsense of the almanac makers ; I'll none of it ! But 
you might as well talk to the winds, as to combat the vulgar 
notion, with the sea-faring and the weather-wise, that the 
quarterings of the thin, and impalpable, and imponderable 
moonlight do not influence the weather, and many other 
things beside. Some farmers, for example, will neither sow 
nor reap, nor kill their cattle, in the decrease of the moon, 
as they call it — of that moon that never changes in fact, and 
varies only in the appearance of its reflected light. It is all 



VOYAGE THE FIHST. 101 



moonshine ! — and that moonshine has neither weight nor 
heat. Neither one nor the other is sufficiently ponderable 
or intense to affect the most delicate instrument ever yet 
manufactured. Lat. by D. R. 37° 12' N., Long, by D. R. 
41°. 21' W. 

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY. 

Wednesday, June 3. — This day turns out remarkably 
clear and pleasant. Was it the change in the moon's phase 
that did it after all 1 Who will undertake to answer 1 
The air is bracing, though rather cool. My winter-clothing, 
without any abatement, is still necessary, although June is 
upon us, and we have the advantage of the latent caloric 
evolved from the sea, which of itself ought to increase the 
temperature of the atmosphere. The icebergs of the North 
may be in our vicinity, however ; and it is known that their 
approach contributes greatly to the sinking of the thermome- 
ter in the North Atlantic. The wind continues fresh from 
the North East, which at sea is said not to be a rainy quar- 
ter, and answers to our pleasant South Western breezes on 
the land. The storm has ceased altogether, and we have 
been enabled, for the first time, within several days, to take a 
good observation of the sun. 

Lat. by Obs. 37° 43' N., which is but seven minutes higher 
than my D. R. ; an approximation to an agreement, between 
the two, that is rather favorable to the closeness of our cal- 
culations and allowances, considering the buffetings we have 
had for a week past, and the absence of the sun for several 
days together. Thermometer — air 62° ; sea 67°. Long. 
by D. R. 39° 01' W. 



102 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

The variation of the compass, increasing as we approach 
Europe, is another stumbling-block to me, as it is to all 
mariners. It is, however, known to exist, and that the " line 
of no-variation " is constantly receding towards the W. ; 
and that is all that is known about it — or nearly so. Who 
can tell the why or the wherefore of this phenomenon 1 At 
London, where it is now two points or 22 J°, (or more,) not 
many years ago it was nothing. Where is the line of u no- 
variation" now cutting? To-morrow it will not cut the 
same places, and is ever changing, ever receding to the W., 
ever showing a mysterious magnetic attraction somewhere. 
Who, I repeat, will tell us what it is, and where it is, and 
explain the laws of its action ? I remember, not many years 
ago, having my curiosity, in this respect, greatly gratified by 
a very scientific gentleman, Dr. Sherwood, of New- 
York, who believed he had obtained a clew to its mysteries ; 
and he promised a publication explaining the subject satis- 
factorily, but I have not heard of it since, and shall not fail 
to seek another interview with him on my return, and learn 
the fate of his theory. 

THE EIGHTEENTH DAY. 

Thursday, June 4.— Lat. by Obs. 37° 22' N., Long. 
36° 44' W. Thermometer— air 70° ; sea 68°. 

Nothing very remarkable has occurred to-day ; but the 
Journal must be kept up notwithstanding. The weather 
continues pleasant, and we jog on leisurely towards our des- 
tination — not fast enough however to keep pace with our im- 
patience. As for a free wind, we have not had a taste of 
the " article" for ten days past. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Memorandum. — Our hog, which is suffered to wander 
about the decks unrestrained, very much to the annoyance of 
all on board, entered our cabin at midnight, and after walking 
about at his leisure, was finally ejected by the steward with 
sundry kicks and anathemas. This is his (the hog's) 
second voyage on board the same ship ; and it is probable 
that after one or two more voyages, to fatten him I suppose, 
and- give him his full growth, he may lay his bones in one of 
our Eastern States, instead of being slaughtered on the pas- 
sage. The ship will have all the benefit of his nastiness and 
annoyance, but none of the post mortem cookery. Quite an 
Eastern invention ! Although a pig is said to be one of 
Jack's pets at sea, yet the sailors are exceedingly wroth at 
this animal, and threaten, with deep oaths, to pitch him over- 
board, some dark night when he stands in the way of their 
duty. He makes no bones of running between their legs on 
all occasions of great peril. 

THE NINETEENTH DAY. 

Friday, June 5. — Good for another pleasant day ; and the 
night is very inviting. I did not retire until midnight. The 
moon is nearly full and faultlessly bright. The ship i3 sail- 
ing quietly and noiselessly, averaging some 4 knots only ; 
the wind at N. E., with very little rolling motion. This day 
is " codfish day" on board ; but my stomach, (albeit on 
shore I was wont to like the several customary preparations 
of salted codfish and potatoes,) no longer yearns for that 
same. Wherefore this change? Simply because I 'spied 
Mr. Hog rooting up with his nose and munching the store of 
fish, kept on deck in a box ; and it occurred to me that if he 



104 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

was permitted thus to make free, I would abstain from par- 
taking of his leavings. And so I contented myself with 
the standing dish of " mahogany" as the sailors call it, and 
trust to the other six days in the week when codfish is not in the 
ascendant. I am cured of codfish for the rest of the voyage. 

Memorandum. — " Mahogany," or the dusky color of 
" salt-junk," comes from over-salting the beef; and a slight 
application of saltpetre reddens the grain, and approximates 
it to " bay-wood." A distinction of color with very little 
difference as it respects solidity. 

Lat. by Obs. 37° N., Long, by D. R. 35° 24'. 

THE TWENTIETH DAY. 

Saturday, June 6. — The weather still exceedingly pleas- 
ant, and I spend the most of my time on deck. The change 
from the cold and stormy weather we have heretofore had is 
most grateful, and one must feel its influence to appreciate it 
fully. Happening to be up quite early this morning, (and I 
confess that I cannot sleep over-much at sea,) I had a full 
view of a young spermacetti whale, turning " nooks" under 
our stern. He was not over two hundred yards off; and, 
had we been a whaler, you can imagine what a commotion 
would have ensued. Such a springing from hammocks, and 
such a lowering of boats in the shortest possible time as there 
would have been, may be imagined by the whale-fisherman 
who gets sight of the Leviathan within striking distance. 
The animal wandered off slowly, making his way to wind- 
ward, seemingly unconscious of the presence of our ship. We 
are reminded by this incident of the vicinity of the Azores or 
Western Isles, in whose neighborhood many of those whales 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 105 



have been taken. They, (the islands,) are not far off, cer- 
tainly ; but between head winds and no winds at all, we are 
not likely soon to see them. 

The winds to-day have been very light and veering all 
round the compass. Our progress for the last 24 hours has 
been nearly a stand-still ; scarcely enough to give steerage- 
way to the ship. Story telling, under such circumstances, 
is resorted to, to beguile the time. One about a certain 
supercargo from the State of Maine, struck me as being the 
tallest specimen of lying, on his part, I have ever heard of. 
He courted a Portuguese girl in one of the Western Isles, 
who, nothing loath, would have married him, but the old 
Don, her father, would not consent, unless he could give assu- 
rance of possessing wealth. He did so, by declaring that 
his father was the owner in fee of one-half of North America, 
and was seriously thinking of buying the other half also ! 
This satisfied the Don, and the suitor married the daughter 
forthwith and took her to America. It is a melancholy fact 
that she is now a drudging housewife on one of the islands in 
Casco Bay. Neither the man nor his father ever owned a 
foot of land of that broad Continent ! Extravagant as this 
may seem, the Western Isles are full of such stories of 
deceptions, practised by the moral sons of New England. 
Their frequent marriages and subsequent abandonment of 
Portuguese females here, are facts well authenticated. Our 
Lat. by Obs. this day 36° 53' N. ? Long, by Chronometer, 
35° 20' W. 

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 

/ 

Sunday, June 7. — Still another delightful day — ay, a day 



106 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

to be remembered. But our progress on our direct course, 
like that of the crab, is a few miles a reculons. We have 
altered our Latitude to 35° 05' N., and our Long, by Chro- 
nometer is 36° 04' W. The wind, what there was of it, has 
been almost dead ahead. 

The conversation to-day turned upon the subject of Amer- 
ican " Captains" taking their " Ladies" to sea with them. 
I learnt, to my great astonishment, that it was a common 
thing at the Eastward, for yankee commanders to take their 
wives with them upon all their voyages — a thing, I should 
think, " more honored in the breach than in the observ- 
ance." Women there, (in the Eastern States,) it is asserted 
to-day, will make a selection of a husband and marry with 
that 'special prospective enjoyment in view. A single voy- 
age may not be very much amiss ; but for a woman to be 
carried about, from port to port, from one year's end to the 
other, thus becoming almost a. fixture of the ship, is a thing 
I was not prepared to hear asserted. In the mean time, if 
true, what do the owners say to it 1 One dissenting owner 
was mentioned, who, ascertaining that his captain had 
infringed in this matter, charged for his wife's board at sea, 
and refused to employ the skipper any longer. If a captain 
can discharge his duties as well with his family on board, 
either at sea or in port, there would then be some apology 
for the custom, so singularly coming to prevail " Down 
East ;" but, if the fact were well known and understood in 
our great mercantile ports, I have my suspicions that few of 
the Eastern vessels would meet with employment. My own 
opinion is that " Captains' Ladies" had better stay at home 
voluntarily ; else our merchants will speedily find a cure for 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



the disease in the non-employment of their husbands and 
their husbands' vessels. No commander can perform his 
duties well, or with freedom, while a woman is thus hanging 
about his neck like a millstone. 

THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 

Monday, June 8.— Lat. by Obs. 36° 20' N., Long, by 
Chronometer 36° 15' W. Weather pleasant ; wind baffling, 
and causing us in the run of these 24 hours, to change our 
course nine times, boxing the compass easterly from due N. 
to due South, with very little headway in any given direction, 
except homeward. 

The light air is very pure, and I have enjoyed myself 
greatly in the buoyancy of the atmosphere. It seems to me 
that I breathe a new life in its wondrous purity. 

THE TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 

Tuesday, June 9.— Lat. 36° 30' N., Long. 35° W. 
Another very pleasant day. The wind which has been 
ahead from the eastward for many a day past, so long indeed 
that the memory of no man on board runneth to the con- 
trary, has blown itself out, and died a natural death. It 
died hard, however — almost by inches ; but at last a dead 
calm set in, and we waited anxiously for the revulsion of the 
breeze. 

The night was as lovely as I ever witnessed ; and I sat up 
to enjoy it. The sun went down in a blaze of dazzling glory, 
and the full moon rose, in opposition, at the same time, 
so that we had an unclouded succession of light for 24 hours. 
We tried the experiment and found we could read the print 



109 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

of a newspaper with as great facility, nearly, by night as by 
day-light. In the calm, which lasted for about six hours, 
without a breath to curl the sea, the ship took her own way, 
and turned herself about and around many times, the sails 
hanging loose and motionless the while, until to our great joy 
a slight wind sprang up in the West at about midnight ; and 
by five in the moaning it freshened into a steady breeze. 
Our studding-sails were all out in a trice, and every sail that 
would draw was^iven to the wind, so that a cloud of canvas 
appeared on the fore part of the ship. Again all hands 
appear to feel the quickening influence of the wind and 
weather ; and, as for myself, I am on deck nearly all the 
time, watching the sails and our progress through the water. 

I manufactured a dog-vane, of cork and feathers, and 
stuck it on the quarter-rail, to be able the better to determine 
the direction of the wind. I found it of great use to me in 
that respect ; but our officers and the sailors seem at once 
to know the precise quarter whence the wind comes, by 
its blowing on the cheek, or by holding up a wet finger, 
when the coldness of the evaporation, on the side next the 
wind, indicates the quarter, though it be ever so slight 
a breeze. 

This day, being eminently satisfied with my condition and 
greatly contented for the time being, I took my " dolce far 
niente "ona pile of old sails and rope coiled on the cabin- 
trunk in the shape of the Peak of Teneriffe, and smoked my 
"gentle Havana" undisturbed. I can imagine, just now, 
no greater human enjoyment of absolute abandonment to the 
indolence of the hour, than to bestride this pile of old sails on 
deck, in this clear atmosphere and bright weather, under the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



shadow of a friendly sail, invoking and enjoying that calm 
contentedness of spirit " superinduced" (as our George Wil- 
son used to say) by gentle breezes and the somnolent qualities 
of the Spanish weed ! 

But avast ! — I hear the daily recurrence of a shrill voice 
beneath me in the cabin, loud and piercing, penetrating from 
taffrail to jib-boom, and from truck to kelson, crying unto 
me — " Altitude — latitude — polar-distance — sum and half- 
sum — secant and co-secant — co-sine and sine," and a change 
came o'er the spirit of my dream ! The captain has been 
taking " sights," and the captain's lady is trying to work up 
our longitude by the Chronometer : and so I walk out upon 
the bowsprit for retirement. Oh, Mrs. Binks ! If you are 
determined to imitate the queen of England in studying 
navigation, can't you follow in the footsteps of her majesty 
without imitating the bittern or the sea-gull, and screaming 
so 1 I am not deaf, good woman ! 

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. 

Wednesday, June 10.— Lat. by Obs. 36° 55', Long. 32° 30'. 
Thermometer in air and sea the same, 72°, (a most remark- 
able coincidence that may not happen again in a century.) 
The wind is now westerly and driving us ahead admirably. 
But in the night it changed suddenly to the North, blowing a 
gale which carried away our main and fore-topsail braces and 
jib-halyards. Where were the preventer-braces all this 
while? Like the Dutchman's anchor, stowed away in the 
forecastle. All things were made right in a few minutes, 
however ; and the braces were re-rove, and the upper sails 
taken in. 



110 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

I listened, during the pauses of the storm, to a short, 
sententious lecture from the first officer, about the difference 
between hemp and Manilla rigging, greatly to the credit of 
the former, and to the utter disgrace and disparagement of 
the latter, interlarded by a few hearty sailor's oaths. " If 
it should ever fall to my lot to rig a ship, there shall not be 
found a foot of Manilla on board," said he. " Why?" 
I demanded. " Because," continued he, " when it gives 
way, it goes suddenly, without warning, and without the 
appearance of being weak or worn ; whereas the hemp hangs 
on to the last strand, and is good for rope yarn and oakum 
afterwards. The flexibility of Manilla, in rendering, is all 
its recommendation; but as for its long endurance on a 
strain, bah !" 

Our ropes and running rigging were all manufactured of 
Manilla grass ; and the parting of three very good looking 
and principal ropes, in this sudden change of wind, gave me 
some uneasiness as to the stability of the rest ; and when I 
considered that the barque was too short-handed for any 
great emergency, it was by no means abated. Nothing 
gives a man greater confidence at sea, than to know that his 
ship is well found and substantially rigged. 

Amidst all the wind and storm, and the squalls and rain, 
which prevailed for several hours, I remarked that the cap- 
tain, nothing daunted, took his post at the wheel, from which 
he relieved the sailor and sent him to do duty forward, and 
gave his commands steadily and coolly, and kept his eye 
upon every movement alow and aloft. The sailors felt the 
influence of his presence, and worked away briskly and sys- 
tematically ; and he occasionally eased the ship handsomely 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. Ill 



to bring the sails under command, so that they could handle 
and furl them. 

It was a most perfect specimen of gulf weather ; and from 
the indication of the thermometer and the boisterous seas 
abroad, we must have been within the influence of the Gulf 
Stream once more. It is said to sweep, but with greatly 
diminished velocity, past the Western Isles, which are not 
far off, and which we are trying to make. 

Our captain was called suddenly, several times, during the 
night ; and his presence^ each time, seemed to allay the con- 
fusion on deck, and the evident trepidation of the officers and 
crew. It was an uneasy, rather fearful, and profoundly 
unpleasant night; and I felt relieved when day -light came. 

Of what else befel, on that pitchy dark and stormy night, 
while the veering gale blew, the rain fell, the thunder roared, 
and the lightning flashed, wherein the captain, (being at the 
wheel,) and his lady (in the cabin, " not at all frightened,") 
held converse through one of the binnacles, I may not further 
speak at large. The last words that I now recollect hearing, 
in the midst of this furious storm, were probably quite natu- 
ral under the circumstances. 

Wife. — "My dear, hadn't we better pray'?" 

Captain. — " Shut up, for God's sake ! — Tacks and sheets 
there — hard a -lee — let go and haul !" 

There is a time for all things — a time to act, and a time 
to pray ; but if the captain had stopped to pray then, his 
ship would have been a wreck in less than no time, while the 
prayer was being said. 

" My God — what an escape !" cried the Captain with 
and I saw by the light of the binnacle that his 



112 THE H0MANCE OF YACHTING. 

bronzed features assumed an ashy paleness. Just then, and 
before he had well shifted his helm after going about, follow- 
ing his eye I saw a huge object passing across our stern, 
within half the width of one of the seas, certainly not ten 
fathoms off, and dashing by with the speed of the winds. It 
was the dark hull of a ship of at least three times our own 
tonnage, and showing no light nor making any hail. Hav- 
ing no light aloft ourselves, we must have been as invisible 
to her as she was to us, until she came, stem on, furiously 
driving over the spot occupied by our ship but one moment 
before ! 

THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 

Thursday, June 11.— Lat. 36° 24' N., Long. 30° 21' W. 
Storm still continues, with winds ahead. Our progress is 
very slow. Saw a British steamer to windward, from the 
West Indies, bound for the Azores to take in a supply of 
coals before continuing her voyage homeward. 

THE TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 

Friday, June 12.— Lat. by Obs. 38° 05' N., Long, by D. 
R. 29° 23' W. Strong Easterly winds prevailing, and of 
course ahead. Our latitude by observation is much farther 
north than we anticipated by our courses, even after allowing 
largely for variation and leeway. To us this is evidence of 
a strong North- Westerly current, or rather set of the sea, 
owing, doubtless to the prevalence of gales from the opposite 
quarter. Our disappointment in not making Pico, or Fayal, 
was considerable, thanks to the current aforesaid. Land- 
clouds quite visible during the day, but no land. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 113 



THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 

Saturday, June 13. — Lat. by Obs. 39° 12' N., Long, by 
D. R. 28° 08' W. 

We have made a good deal of zig-zag progress to-day. 
Wind as usual ahead, and the set of the sea against us. We 
expected to see some of the islands in the course of this day ; 
but it came on to be foggy, and we pass several of them in 
the night, keeping a good lookout, however, lest we bring up 
suddenly. Our first design at starting was, if possible, to 
make Corvo, the most Northerly island ; but, being driven 
to the south, we then tried to make St. Mary. Failing in 
that, by reason of the opposing winds and currents, we are 
driven again to the north, and are now dashing in towards 
the centre of the group, having been whirled in such uncom- 
fortable closeness to some of them, especially in the night, 
when we pass between Graciosa and St. George, that I am 
rather anxiously looking for the open sea. This proximity, 
occurring in thick darkness and during the prevalence of 
fogs, and also amidst uncertain currents, adds neither to our 
security nor our pleasure. It would undoubtedly be pleasant 
to sail among these islands in clear weather, for they are 
high and beautiful objects, though volcanic, and are a sort 
of resting place, two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic, 
from which the navigator may take a new departure, as I 
intend to do, if I can get sight of any one of them. 

THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 

Sunday, June 14. — Another very stormy day of wind and 
rain, accompanied by thunder. At 4 in the morning the 



114 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

second mate called me from my birth, and pointed out to me 
the eastern end of an island looming up under our weather 
quarter, and bearing S. S. W., distant, as I judged, from 
the short time the fog and rain permitted it to be seen, about 
30 miles. I was unable to name the island without working 
up my latitude and longitude by dead reckoning ; and even 
then, without an observation, and being a landsman, I might 
very well be in doubt. Our course for the entire day, allow- 
ing two points variation, since our observation of the sun at 
12 yesterday, was nearly E. The position of our ship 
would then be, when the island was discovered, in Lat. 
39° 09' N., and Long. 26° 27' W. This position shows the 
island of Terceira, bearing S. S. W. about 30 miles from the 
ship. This calculation and position are verified by my Lat. 
and Long, worked up by D. R. from the log at noon, being 
the same latitude as above, and bringing us to Long. 25° 47' 
W. Thus, believing my reckoning not far out of the way, 
I take a new departure, and assume the latitude and longi- 
tude of the east end of that island, (town of Angra,) 38° 39' 
N., Long. 27° 12' W., with the intention of verifying it 
hereafter by the Quadrant and Chronometer, when the sun 
will allow me to do so. " Shine out, fair orb," &c. 

THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 

Monday, June 15. — No observation of the sun this day ; 
but I find, on working up my dead reckoning, that I make a 
difference of only two miles in my longitude between the 
departure from Sandy Hook and that of Terceira. Allowing 
three points for variation and leeway, (a large allowance as I 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 115 

think,) I make my Lat. by D. R. 39° 28' N., and Long. 23° 
54/ W. 

The weather continues boisterous and stormy, with a 
heavy sea. The roll of the vessel is more than usually 
uncomfortable, and I have been knocked about in my birth 
all night until my bones and flesh ache with contusions. A 
stormy region, these isles of the sea ! The thermometer is 
at a summer temperature. A fierce thunder storm is now 
raging — not an uncommon occurrence here where they have 
at least 150 rainy days in the year. These islands, present- 
ing the only point of land within many hundred miles, doubt- 
less attract more than their share of the electric fluid of the 
atmosphere ; and hence the prevalence of so many thunder 
storms. They possess a good climate, however; and, if 
better governed, would form delightful residences for persons 
seeking retirement from the rude blasts of our Northern 
regions. All the tropical fruits grow here ; and in all 
respects, where health and evenness of temperature may be 
regarded, they are preferable to the West Indies, where the 
great heat of the sun prevails to such an extent, at times, as 
to render the climate insupportable. 

The name of these islands (the Azores) is derived from the 
great number of crows found upon them at the time of their 
discovery. Hence the Portuguese appellation of Ilhos dos 
Azores; and also that of Corvo, given to one of the group. 
Though the race of crows is banished or extirpated, they 
have been succeeded by another race of bipeds as much given 
to the flesh as their carniverous predecessors. You may 
still see the scoundrels poking about the islands in long 
black gowns and shovel hats, seeking whom they may 



116 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

devour. Perhaps not in Pagandom, certainly not in 
Christendom, will you find a priesthood so immoral and 
corrupt as in these islands. The Iotv state of intelligence 
and morals here, is ascribable to the ignorance and vices 
of the clergy. There are numerous monasteries and convents 
in these islands, which, instead of being the nurseries of 
virtue, are openly devoted to debauchery and profligacy. 
At least such was the case up to about the year 1834, when 
the queen of Portugal, it is said, feeling scandalized at 
the conduct of her priests and monks, laid her interdict 
upon their incontinency. It still exists, notwithstanding ; 
but the churches and convents are not so openly made 
the places of public pollution as formerly. No wonder 
it thunders and lightens here for half the year, nor that 
earthquakes come with their deep diapason, nor that the 
atmosphere is filled with a sulphurous smell ! Pandemonium 
has a capital locality here, in the Agores. 

One of these islands, (Terceira,) as I find the story in the 
original Spanish, was associated with the first jealous slander 
— the first shaft of envious depreciation sped against the 
fame of Columbus. His son Fernando, in his " History of 
the Admiral '," indignantly repels the attempted wrong 
upon the memory of his father, and declares the story to be 
without the least foundation. By the way, why has this 
authentic history of Columbus never been republished in 
this country 1 It is the best relation of that great man's 
life extant; and has had a curious history of its own. 
It was written by his son in Spanish, translated and pub- 
lished in Italian, and, the original being lost, it was retrans- 
lated into the Spanish, and then, for the first time, published 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



in that language. The history of Columbus' life cannot be 
written without copious reference to its pages. 

In the Inca Garcilaso De la Vega's History of Peru, or 
" Commentarios Reales, que tratan de el origen de los 
Incas," the story above referred to is delivered with all the 
solemnity of authentic history. It runs thus : 

" Como se descubrio el nuevo mundo. — Cerca del afio 
de mil y quatrocientos y ochenta y quatro, vno mas, 6 menos, 
vn Piloto, naturel de la Villa de Huelva, en el Condado de 
Niebla, llamado Alonso Sanchez, de Huelva, tenia vn Navio 
pequefio, con el qual contratava por la Mar, y llevava de 
Espagfia a las Canarias, algunas mercaclerias, que alii se 
le vendian bien ; y de las Canarias cargaba de los frutos 
de aquellas Islas, y las llevava a la Isla de la Madera, y 
de alii se bolvia a Espagfia, cargado de Acucar, y conservas. 
Andando en esta su triangular contratacion, atravesando de 
las Canarias a la Isla de la Madera, le did vn temporal tan 
recio, y tempestuoso, que no pudiendo resistirle, se dejo 
llevar de la tormenta, y corrio veinte y ocho, o veinte y 
nueve dias, sin saber por donde, no a donde ; porque en todo 
este tiempo, no pudo tomar el altura, por el Sol, ni por 
Norte," &c. 

It is not necessary here to give the entire fabrication in 
Spanish, but, being translated and condensed, the current 
story of that day may be told as follows. It must be borne 
in mind, by the reader, that the Azores were discovered by 
Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, about the year 1432, and 
up to 1492 they formed the Western limit of discovery in 
the Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream, from time to time, 



118 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

cast upon their shores many objects of interest, supposed to 
have come from unknown lands beyond, which excited the 
curiosity of the navigators of that period, and doubtless had 
their influence upon the mind of Columbus : and it is by no 
means improbable that to the jealousy and rivalry of the 
Portuguese, Columbus was indebted for the gratuitous in- 
vention which affected his fame for a time, but w T as not 
promulgated until after his discoveries had been proclaimed 
to the world. It is barely possible that to some jealous 
native of Spain, using the convenient name of Sanchez 
for his purpose, is due the paternity of the fabulous 
statement. 

HOW THE NEW WORLD WAS DISCOVERED. About the 

year 1484, (says the Inca Garcilaso De la Vega,) a certain 
pilot, native of Helva in the county of Niebla, called Alonso 
Sanchez, usually traded in a small vessel from Spain to the 
Canaries ; and there landing the commodities of that country, 
sailed to the Madeiras, and thence freighted with sugar and 
conserves, returned home into Spain. This was his constant 
course and traffic, when in one of these voyages, meeting 
with a most violent tempest, and not being able to bear sail, 
he was forced to put before the wind for the space of 28 or 
29 days, not knowing where or whither he went, for in all that 
time he was not able to take an observation of the sun or the 
north star ; and so grievous was the storm that the mariners 
could with no convenience either eat or sleep. At length, 
after so many long and tedious days, the wind abating, they 
found themselves near an island ; which it was, it is not cer- 
tainly known ; but it is believed to have been St. Domingo, 
because that lies just west from the Canaries, whence a storm 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 119 



at east had driven the ship. The master landing on the 
shore, observed the height of the sun, and noted particularly 
in writing what he had seen, and what had happened in this 
voyage out and home : and having supplied himself with 
fresh water and wood, he put to sea again ; but not having 
well observed his course thither, his way to return was the 
more difficult, and made his voyage so long, that he began to 
want both water and provisions, which, being added to their 
former sufferings, the people fell sick, and died in that man- 
ner, that of seventeen persons who came out of Spain, there 
remained but five only alive, when they arrived at Terceras, 
of whom the master was one. These came afterwards to 
lodge at the house of the famous Christopher Colon, because 
they knew him to be a great seaman and cosmographer, and 
one who made sea-charts to sail by ; and for this reason he 
received them with much kindness, and treated them with all 
things necessary, that so he might learn from them the par- 
ticulars which occurred, and the discoveries they had made 
in this laborious voyage. In this manner the New World 
was first discovered, for which greatness Spain is beholding 
to that little village of Helva, which produced such a son, as 
gave Colon information of things not seen or known before ; 
the which secrets, like a prudent person, he concealed, and 
they were useful to him in his great design, which never 
could have been chalked out by the art of cosmography, or 
the imagination of man, had not Alonso de Sanchez given 
the first light and conjecture to this discovery, which Colon 
readily improved. 

The fame of the Western Isles is in no way diminished by 
a naval engagement fought at Fayal in 1814, between a 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



British gun brig and the boats of a British squadron on the 
one side, and on the other the little private armed American 
brig General Armstrong of seven guns and ninety men, com- 
manded by Captain Samuel C. Reid, out of the port of New- 
York. The annals of naval warfare do not furnish the 
recital of a more gallant action than this of the Armstrong. 
The terrible engagement of Paul Jones with a British cruiser 
is scarcely a parallel to it. The details of the action of 
Capt. Reid, (now well stricken in years and master of one of 
our line-of-battle ships,) have not been well preserved in our 
naval histories ; and I take great pleasure, now that I am 
reminded of the facts by the neighborhood I am in, of giving 
his gallant name to the present generation, and also I hope, 
to posterity. 

His own official account of this action is lost, or at any 
rate, not within my reach ; but the following letter from a 
British inhabitant of Fayal to Cobbett, published in his 
famous Register at the time, will answer my purpose as well. 
His Britannic " majesty's officers" appear to have had no 
regard to the neutrality of the port, a place always sacred in 
the eye of honorable men and the law of nations ; nor have 
they ever evinced the least regard for laws, either human or 
divine, in their warfare with other nations. Happily in this 
case, the punishment due to their unmanly atrocity was 
meted out on the spot. But few naval engagements, even of 
large fleets, exhibit so great a slaughter. 

From an English gentleman resident at Fayal, to William 
Cobbett, London. 

" Fayal, October 15th, 1814. 

" Sir— The American privateer brig General Armstrong, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 121 



of New- York, Captain Samuel C. Reid, of seven guns, and 
ninety men, entered here on the 26th ultimo, about noon, IT 
days from that place, for the purpose of obtaining water. 
The captain, seeing nothing on the horizon, was induced to 
anchor. Before the elapse of many hours, his majesty's brig 
Carnation came in, and anchored near her. 

" About six, his majesty's ship, Plantagenet, of 74 guns, 
and the Rota frigate, came in and anchored also. The cap- 
tain of the privateer and his friends consulted the first 
authorities here about "her security. They all considered 
her perfectly secure, and that his majesty's officers were too 
well acquainted with the respect due to a neutral port to 
molest her. But to the great surprise of every one, about 9 
in the evening, four boats were despatched, armed and man- 
ned from his majesty's ships, for the purpose of cutting her 
out. It being about the full of the moon, the night perfectly 
clear and calm, we could see every movement made. ■ The 
boats approached with rapidity towards her, when, it appears, 
the captain of the privateer hailed them, and told them to 
keep off several times. They notwithstanding pushed on, 
and were in the act of boarding, before any defence was 
made from the privateer. A warm contest ensued on both 
sides. The boats were finally dispersed with great loss. 

" The American now calculating on a, very superior force 
being sent, cut his cables and rowed the privateer close in 
alongside of the fort, within half cable's length, where he 
moored her, head and stern, with four lines. 

" The governor now sent a remonstrance to Captain 
Lloyd, of the Plantagenet, against such proceedings, and 
trusted that the privateer would not be further molested ; 

6 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



she being in the dominions of Portugal, and under the guns 
of the castle, was entitled to Portuguese protection. 

" Captain Lloyd's answer was, that he was determined to 
destroy the vessel, at the expense of all Fayal ; and should 
any protection be given her by the fort, he would not leave a 
house standing in the village. All the inhabitants were 
gathered about the walls, expecting a renewal of the attack. 
At midnight 14 launches were discovered to be coming, in 
rotation, for the purpose. 

" When they got within clear gun-shot, a tremendous 
and effectual discharge was made from the privateer, which 
threw the boats into confusion. They now returned a spir- 
ited fire ; but the privateer kept up so continual a discharge, 
it was almost impossible for the boats to make any progress. 
They finally succeeded, after immense loss, to get alongside 
of her, and attempted to board at every quarter, cheered by 
the officers, with a shout of " no quarter ," which we could 
distinctly hear, as well as their shrieks and cries. The ter- 
mination was near about a total massacre. 

u Three of the boats were sunk, and but one poor solitary 
officer escaped death, in a boat that contained fifty souls ; 
he was wounded. The Americans fought with great firm- 
ness ; some of the boats were left without a single man to. 
row them ; others with three or four ; the most that any one 
returned with, was about ten. Several boats floated on 
shore, full of dead bodies. 

" With great reluctance I state, that they were manned 
with picked men, and commanded by the first, second, third, 
and fourth lieutenants of the Plantagenet ; first, second, 
third, and fourth ditto, of the frigate, and the first officers of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 123 



the brig ; together with a great number of midshipmen. 
Our whole force exceeded 400 men ; but three officers 
escaped, two of which are wounded. This bloody, and unfor- 
tunate contest lasted about 40 minutes. 

" After the boats gave out, nothing more was attempted 
till day-light next morning, when the Carnation hauled 
alongside and engaged her. The privateer still continued 
to make a most gallant defence. These veterans reminded 
me of Lawrence's dying words, of the Chesapeake, " Don't 
give up the ship !" The Carnation lost one of her top- 
masts, and her yards were shot away ; she was much cut up 
in rigging, and received several shot in her hull. This 
obliged her to haul off to repair, and to cease firing. 

" The Americans now finding their principal gun, (Long 
Tom,) and several others, dismounted, deemed it folly to 
think of saving her against so superior a force ; they there- 
fore cut away her masts to the deck, blew a hole through her 
bottom, took out their small arms, clothing, &c, and went 
on shore. I discovered only two shot-holes in the hull of 
the privateer, although much cut up in rigging. 

" Two boats' crews were afterwards despatched from our 
vessels, which went on board, took out some provisions, and 
set her on fire. 

" For three days after, we were employed in burying the 
dead that washed on shore in the surf. The number of 
British killed exceeds 120, and 90 wounded. The enemy, 
[the Americans,] to the surprise of mankind, lost only two 
killed, and seven wounded. We may well say • God 
deliver us from our enemies,' if this is the way the Ameri- 
cans fight. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



"After burning the privateer, Captain Lloyd made a 
demand of the governor to deliver up the Americans, 
as prisoners — which the governor refused. He threatened 
to send 500 men on shore, and take them by force. The 
Americans immediately retired with their arms to an old 
Gothic Convent ; knocked away the adjoining draw-bridge, 
and determined to defend themselves to the last. The 
captain, however, thought better than to send his men. 
He then demanded two men, which he said deserted from 
his vessel when in America. The governor sent for the 
men, but found none of the description given. 

" Many houses received much injury on shore, from 
the guns of the Carnation. A woman, sitting in the fourth 
story of her house, had her thigh shot off ; and a boy had 
his arm broken. The American Consul here, has made a 
demand on the Portuguese government for a hundred thou- 
sand dollars, for the privateer; which our Consul, Mr. 
Parkin, thinks, in justice, will be paid ; and that they will 
claim on England. Mr. Parkin, Mr. Edward Bayley, and 
other English gentlemen, disapprove of the outrage and 
depredation committed by our vessels on this occasion. 
The vessel [a ship-of-war] that was despatched to England 
with the wounded, was not permitted to take a single letter 
from any person. Being an eye witness to this transaction, 
I have given you a correct statement as it occurred. 

" With respect, I am, &c, H. K. F. 



5? 



THE THIRTIETH DAY. 



Tuesday, June 16. — The storm continues without abate- 
ment until nearly noon, when the sun appears and we are 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 125 



able to take an observation. The wind, after a short 
interval of calm, springs up from a favorable quarter. 
We set all sail, with a fine breeze from the S. W. Lat. 
by Obs. 40° 15' N., Long. D. R. 21° 50' W. 

The great height of our Northern latitude, about which 
there could be no mistake, (as our quadrants agree nearly,) 
surprised us all very much. Our dead reckoning gave us 
only 39° 11' N. The following " Remark " occurs in my 
log book : We have found for the last three days that a 
strong current must exist, at any rate for the time, in the 
direction of the wind, which has been very strong towards 
the North. After allowing all that would be deemed proper 
for variation and leeway, full three points, and. steering S. E. 
by compass much of the time, I find in three days that we 
have gone to the North more than a degree beyond my dead 
reckoning. The latitude by observation is proof of the fact. 
This is rather a singular circumstance, to be accounted for 
in no other way than by the action of the winds upon the 
sea ; for several authorities assert that the Gulf Stream 
sweeps past the Western Isles in a southerly bend, and 
joins the "Great African Current" about where we now 
are, which, they also assert, rises on the coasts of France 
and England, and going South, sets into and past the Strait 
of Gibraltar. 

M'Culloch, in his well-written article, title " Atlantic 
Ocean," makes the following positive statement : " The N. 
African current, which is also called the Guinea current, 
from its terminating opposite the coast of Guinea, has its 
origin opposite the coast of France, between the southern 
shores of Ireland and Cape Finisterre in Spain. It is 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



impossible to determine more precisely the place where it 
originates, but it is a fact well established by experience, 
that the whole body of water between the Peninsula and the 
Azores is in motion towards the South, the western part 
setting more southerly, and the eastern more to the south- 
east." 

Instead, therefore, of drifting northward, we ought to be 
at least one degree south of our present position, if the 
written authorities are to be relied on. My conclusion 
therefore is, that the doctrine of permanent currents in the 
Atlantic, always excepting that of the Gulf Stream (and even 
that enlarges its volume sometimes) ought to be regarded 
with many grains of allowance ; and that the experience of 
the navigator, who makes his calculation for the heave of the 
sea in prevailing winds, is far preferable to the generality of 
the theories and authorities laid down in the books and 
charts of the day. These observations, made at the time 
indicated, I have seen no reason to revise or to change. 

We are now clear of the Islands, and have been at sea 30 
days. A more boisterous passage, with some few excepted 
days, I can scarcely imagine than has fallen to my lot ; and 
that too at a season of the year when pleasant weather and 
favorable breezes were predicted by all the practical naviga- 
tors with whom I conversed before my departure. A cold, 
wet, dark, damp, musty, moist, murky, stormy, windy, un- 
easy, disagreeable time I have had of it, in the main. 
Call you this the " Romance of Yachting?" Ay, the dark 
side of it. It hath several sides, and may be said to be 
quadrilateral and cubiform. There is your sunny side, 
which is intensely delightful; your opposite side which is 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 127 



gloomy; and there are your intermediate sides which are 
shady and party-colored. All have their uses, delights, and 
drawbacks. We enjoy life all the better for its light and 
shade. There is a poetical alternation, a streak of fat and 
a streak of lean, in the romance of the sea. To be sure this 
is my seventh day of continuous storm ; and more than half 
my time, since I left port, has been spent in cloud and tem- 
pest, gale and cataract. Well ! That is the gloomy side ; 
yet, being part of the whole, there ought to be romance in it. 
Go to ! 

THE THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 

Wednesday, June IT. — Every thing is changed for the 
better. A delightful day ; wind fair, " three points abaft 
the beam ;" and all sail set. The ship has very little roll- 
ing motion, and it seems almost like sailing on a calm and 
unruffled stream. The contrast between this state of things 
and the weather we have heretofore had is very great and 
almost inappreciable — Hyperion to a Satyr! What a 
difference, too, in the expression of every body's face on 
board ! We still continue to go North by an imperceptible 
current, which the books say ought to be southerly. The 
ship has been steered south-east for the last twenty -four 
hours, yet have we hardly made a good East course. 

Lat. by Obs. 39° 59' N., Long. 19° 37' W. 

THE THIRTY-SECOND DAY. 

Thursday, June 18.— Lat. by Obs. 39° 27' N. Long. 17° 
43' W. Observed the Pole-star last night attentively, and 
compared it with our compass. The variation discovered is 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



full 2J points westerly. The weather continues pleasant, 
but the wind has chopped round to the N. Our progress, 
however, is satisfactory. We are now about 500 miles from 
Cadiz, and the prospect of getting there shortly is quite 
encouraging. Saw a large log of timber to-day, covered 
with barnacles of very ancient growth, and surrounded by a 
multitude of fishes, which amuse themselves by biting off the 
heads of the barnacles aforesaid. 

THE THIRTY-THIRD DAY. 

Friday, June 19,— Lat. by Obs. 38° 39' N., Long. 15° 52' 
W. Weather continues pleasant. Wind rather contrary, 
but enabling us to lay a tolerably direct course, averaging 
S. E. 

As we approach the European coast we see many ves- 
sels. Spoke a Portuguese schooner of war — a clumsy tub 
altogether, — a thing in the shape of a West India sugar- 
box ; outsailed her easily. " What barque is that V\ said 
he in very good English. " The J. Doolittle Smith !" 
answered our captain. " What name V enquired he. " The 
John Smith — and be d — d to you !" muttered our skipper. 
" Oh ! John Smid — I have heard of you before !" said the 
Portuguese. Just then I saw two or three heads of the crew 
projecting over the railing of the schooner, grinning ghastly 
smiles at us. They were laughing at our name : they, too, 
had heard of " John Smith" before, doubtless, and were 
delighted to get a fair sight of him at last. The good 
barque " J. Doolittle Smith" passed on, and we were asked 
no more questions. The Portogee rascals laughed con- 
sumedly ! 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



THE THIRTY-FOURTH DAY. 

Saturday, June 20. — Another stormy day! Wind just 
free enough to lay our course. Again came my reflections 
upon a long, tedious, stormy and disagreeable passage. We 
have now been afloat one lunar month and four days over. 
I am tired, oh how weary I am of being cooped up in this 
cabin! Lat. by D. R. 38° 20' N., Long. 13° 12'. No 
observation of the sun — of course. 

THE THIRTY-FIFTH DAY. 

Sunday, June 21. — Cloudy and somewhat stormy. Fresh 
breeze all day from N. E. Made great headway, and have 
gone over two degrees and a half of longitude. 

Our ship is now about one degree W. of Cape St Vincent, 
at least my dead reckoning places her so ; and if the wind 
holds, we shall make the land early to-morrow. Look out 
for to-morrow ! What a straining of eyes there will be, to 
catch the first sight of land ! 

- Lat. by an imperfect Obs. 37° 02', by D. R. 37° 24' N. ? 
Long. 10° 23' W. 

THE THIRTY-SIXTH DAY. 

Monday, June 22. — The storm continued during the 
night, and our captain very properly shortened sail, supposing 
we were near the land. Early in the morning, it being the 
second mate's watch, he mounted to the fore yard, and in a 
minute afterwards the welcome sound of " land-ho /" greeted 
our ears from aloft. St. Vincent was in sight, distant 20 
miles. We shaped our course accordingly, and at 8 o'clock 

6* 



130 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

came up with the cape, and all hands fell to calculating and 
reckoning up their work. I found mine just 20 miles out of 
the way and ahead of the true longitude, owing to the misdi- 
rection of that rascally current, which set us one way when 
it should have set us another ; but it was nevertheless the 
nearest of any on board. At noon I tried my quadrant for 
the last time. The sun shone out bright, and, as usual, I 
took a careful observation. Much to my gratification I 
found my old quadrant the most exact and accurate of any 
in the ship. Those on board differed from mine considera- 
bly, as I have hinted before ; — mine making the altitude 
more and consequently the latitude less by about three to 
five minutes than the others. There could, however, be no 
mistake to-day ; for we were in a spot off a prominent point 
of Portugal, whose precise latitude was known to us, and I 
hit it to a minute. I ascertained, also, that the chronometer 
we have gone by, (whenever the sun would permit us to take 
a " sight" in the morning or afternoon,) was out of the way 
nearly three-quarters of a degree. These, however, are mat- 
ters of practical navigation, which have afforded me many 
hours of amusement on the passage. My confidence in my 
ability to navigate a ship across the Atlantic, or elsewhere, 
has not decreased by my experiments ; but my present pur- 
suits in life hardly give promise that I shall ever attempt to 
get into a ship through the hawse-hole, or even into the 
cabin windows, as a practical navigator. Nevertheless I 
shall not be afraid to try a hand at it, should occasion 
require, amateur though I must still account myself. 

Approaching Cape St. Vincent, the " Sacred Promontory" 
of the ancients, we descried a convent, a dark and dismal 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 131 



pile of buildings, perched on its rocky point. A light house 
would be more acceptable to the mariner. Not a human 
being was stirring within miles of it. The sun-burnt heath 
around it, for a great distance, gave no signs of vegetation, 
animal life, or human habitation. Not even a tree or shrub 
was there. It was gloomy and deserted all ! This was our 
first view of Portugal, and it was characteristic of her priest- 
ridden soil. What kind of life must that be, immured in 
that lone prisori, upon a blasted heath, ever looking out upon 
the ocean, heaving at its base and lashing itself into foam. 
Imprisonment for life in a solitary cell, save the occasional 
panoramic view abroad on the sea, could not be more gloomy. 
We coasted along the Portuguese shore a whole degree 
before we lost sight of it, but the same gloomy, blasted, and 
mildewed features presented themselves to the eye for the 
entire distance. With the exception of a military establish- 
ment we could not discover, even with the glass, the where- 
abouts of humanity. What a different aspect would this 
land present if it were ours ! How it would teem with active 
life if the Americans had it. It would be full of villages and 
cultivated fields ; and its coasts would be lined with dock- 
yards, and the sails of commerce. Now the desert of Zaara 
is not more lonely. We saw one small Portuguese armed 
vessel, anchored near the shore. She was there for the pro- 
tection of the revenue, and well may she be thus employed ; 
for a more inviting coast for smuggling operations I have 
never seen. 

Being on the eve of going into port, all hands were em- 
ployed in scraping the booms and topmasts. A man thus 
busied on the outer end of the starboard main studding-sail 



133 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

boom, which was hauled in upon the yard, missed his bal- 
ance and fell into the clew of the mainsail, which had been 
hauled up in order to allow the forward sails to draw ; a 
light breeze prevailing at the time. It was lucky for him 
that the sail was thus ready to pocket him, for had his fall 
not been broken, he would have tumbled head-foremost upon 
the bulwarks, or more probably overboard ; and before the 
ship could have been hove to, and a boat launched for his 
rescue, he must have been drowned. As it was, he flound- 
ered about in the belly of the sail for a few minutes, endea- 
voring to extricate himself, to the great amusement of the 
crew ; and he was finally relieved, by the mate ordering the 
starboard clew-garnet to be eased off, when he was gently 
spilled on deck, where, picking himself up, he mounted the 
yard, and went to work again upon the boom-end as if 
nothing had happened. 

Far off to the south, a fleet of small vessels appear upon the 
horizon like specks, which, upon enquiry proved to be tunny 
fishermen, who were casting their lines into deep water. 
They were fishing at a depth of sixty to a hundred fathoms, 
and the market of Cadiz is dependant upon their success, for 
its supply of this excellent and well-flavored species of the 
finny tribe. The atun, or tunny, is a source of great profit 
to these laborious and adventurous fishermen, both along this 
coast and in several parts of the Mediterranean. A shoal 
of heavy -working animals, with prodigious flippers, kept us 
company into port. They were not as brisk as the porpoise 
in turning their summersets ; and I was at a loss how to 
rate them, or what name to give them, until long afterwards, 
when on the coast of America, off Sandy Hook, we harpooned 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



one of the same heavy tribe, and the pilot called him a " sun 
fish." The face of this fish requires but little imagination 
to liken it to the countenance of an exceedingly stupid human 
being. The blubber of his body was three inches in thick- 
ness. 

THE THIRTY-SEVENTH DAY. 

Tuesday, June 23. — We had been all night trying to spy 
the light of Cadiz ; but the fine weather, which became truly 
delightful as soon as we made the land, and the clear sky 
assisted to prevent us. Some bright star in the horizon 
would mislead us from time to time, and although the light 
of the tower was 72 feet above the level of the sea, it was no 
beacon to us, until a very near approach convinced us of its 
identity and bodily presence at a few miles' distance. At 
length the day dawned — the bright sun came forth in all its 
splendor, and the white objects of Cadiz stood revealed to 
our eyes. 

At 7 o'clock, A. M. we were hailed by a Spanish pilot in 
a sort of lingua-franca, half Spanish, half English, dashed 
with a tincture of no language under the sun, and he shortly 
came alongside. We threw him a line ; but he was forbid- 
den by the laws of the port (so he said) to come on board, 
for fear of the plague, and so we towed him along at a 
respectable distance, and in this way he piloted us in, occa- 
sionally giving some command, the purport whereof we 
guessed at and shifted our helm accordingly. These pilots 
are great beggars for bread and pork, and a " leetel tobac- 
co." The " Inglees" always gave them some, he said,- and 
although we could discover no means of cooking on board 



334 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

his little latteen cockle-shell, the captain ordered a few 
pounds of pork and some biscuit to be given to the crew, and 
I handed over the side a small quantity of Lorillard's best 
fine cut, and a few regalias, at smell and sight whereof they 
turned up their eyes in wonder and thankfulness. The 
coarsest Kentucky leaf, and a handful of " long -nines at a 
penny a grab," would have answered just as well perhaps — 
for good tobacco or decent segars are hardly to be found in 
all the kingdom of Spain. In return for these favors the 
pilot sent us on board some fruit, consisting of plums and 
ripe figs, and being the first we had seen we devoured them 
eagerly and found them delicious and refreshing, after the 
constant flavor of salt junk, alias " mahogany," alias " bay- 
wood." 

The chief pilot, finding we were from America, where the 
plague never comes, finally ventured on board, the law of 
the port to the contrary notwithstanding. He had doffed 
his rough sailor clothing, and appeared in all the grandeur 
of Spanish jacket, jingling buttons and red sash. We cast 
anchor in the bay of Cadiz in an hour afterwards, and furled 
our sails. Our ship was now visited by the Health officer. 
He came alongside in a large covered boat, rowed by some 
twenty men, all of whom had the word " Sanidad" painted 
conspicuously upon their glazed caps, indicating their voca- 
tion and authority. The officer Was accompanied by a com- 
mittee of three others from the Custom House, for greater 
safety perhaps, or to see and report whether he did his duty. 
We cast a rope in among the oarsmen, which they suffered 
to run out from the boat without securing, and she drifted 
astern ; whereat the helsman became evidently angry, and 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 135 



vented his displeasure by sundry Spanish oaths, which have 
quite an unseemly interpretation when rendered into English. 
The men (each man at the top of his lungs giving orders, 
and cursing his neighbor in sonorous Spanish) finally pulled 
alongside again, and the bowman fastened his boat-hook in 
an eye-bolt at the side, where he held on. 

The officer, like the pilot, fearing to board us, now stood 
up and questioned us in tolerable English, and was very civil 
withal. Dreading a long quarantine, we were very civil in 
return, being desirous, now that we were in port, of escaping 
that arbitrary and irksome seclusion, which is dealt out ad 
libitum by these officials of the health office, upon the small- 
est provocation, or hint of disease being on board. It was 
fortunate for us, as we shortly learned, that it was dull times 
in Cadiz, and that there had of late been but few arrivals, 
and none within a long time from America. This secured 
us a favorable reception. It would have been otherwise had 
the times been brisk, for then the Custom House and Health 
Office put on their airs and order you off to the lazaretto for 
purification, as a thing of course, whether you bring a clean 
bill of health or not. We were told by the pilot to expect 
an embargo of eight days at least, health or no health ; and 
trifling as was the circumstance, had the noting, in the log 
book, of the picking up of the empty cask been observed, we 
should have been doomed without remorse to twenty days' 
punishment at a distant anchorage. Luckily it did not meet 
the eye of the officers, although they examined the log with 
great attention ; whereat the captain, who intended to erase 
it, but forgot to do it, was very much relieved. 

Our log book, ship's papers, and my passport were de- 



136 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

manded and handed over the side ; and fearing the annoy- 
ance of unprofitable detention we stood awaiting our fate 
with anxiety, while the sedate officials, like Inquisitors look- 
ing for evidence to convict us, were examining our papers 
and turning them over, leaf by leaf, with a pair of tongs. 
They were very careful not to suffer their fingers to come in 
contact with the papers ; and one of the wretches had the 
impudence to toast my passport and the captain's manifest 
over a chafing-dish of brimstone, before he ventured to look 
at their contents. He could not have treated them worse had 
they been redolent of the plague from Smyrna. Only think 
of fumigating the respectable name of Mr. Buchanan, who 
had put his signature to my passport ! Our letter-bag, which 
ought to have been delivered to the consignee in fact, was 
demanded, doubtless for the benefit of the post-office, where 
enormous postage is charged upon each letter. The ship's 
log-book and papers, together with the letters, passports, 
&c, were, I think, very improperly suffered to go on shore 
in the health barge ; but supposing it the custom of the port, 
no objection was made to the proceeding. It was our cap- 
tain's first voyage to Cadiz ; and it is said, and truly, that 
"we must always go one voyage to learn." 

The next ceremony was that of parading our people on 
deck along the taffrail; and captain and captain's lady, 
mates, passenger, and crew, formed the line at the command, 
and were carefully counted and found to agree with the 
ship's memorandum. A short consultation ensued among 
the " Sanidads;" an armed custom-house officer jumped on 
board to prevent us from smuggling ; and, to the great 
relief of the captain, and to my ill-concealed joy, we were 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 137 



permitted at once to go on shore. With more delight than 
I can now express, I heard the prompt order given to launch 
the boat from the deck, where it had been snugly stowed, 
bottom upwards, for thirty-seven days (the entire length of 
our passage) ; and I dived below to put myself in shore-going 
rig, preparatory to seeking relief in the beautiful city of 
Cadiz from the absolute fatigue and ennui of my long and 
tiresome voyage. Thus far have I " Yachted;" but again I 
fear you will ask, where is the " romance " thereof? Let 
the echo answer hereafter — not just now, if you please. An 
enlightened "public" will therefore "suspend its opinion." 



138 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



ABSTRACT OF THE VOYAGE. 



D'ys. 
1 


Month. 


Latitude. 


Longitude 


Thermometer. 


Observations. 


May 18 


40° 


42' 


74° 


01' 


Air 


Water 


Stormy. Left Sandy Hook, 
Lat.40° 27' N. Lou. 74° W. 


2 


" 19 


39 


50 


72 


29 






Stormy. 


3 


" 20 


39 


30 


70 


01 








4 


" 21 


39 


14 


66 


18 


62° 


73° 


Entered Gulf Stream. 


5 


« 22 


38 


32 


62 


14 


62 


73 




6 


" 23 


38 


32 


59 


02 


58 


70 




7 


" 24 


38 


22 


58 


14 


68 


70 


Sunday. Cloudy. No obs. 


8 


" 25 


39 


41 


56 


17 


66 


73 




9 


" 26 


40 


48 


53 


24 


62 


72 




10 


" 27 


40 


23 


54 


07 


64 


65 


Stormy. A gale dead ahead. 


11 


" 28 


39 


17 


53 


09 


64 


62 


Stormy. No obs. 


12 


« 29 


39 


20 


52 


11 


67 


64 


Stormy. 


13 


" 30 


38 


50 


50 


45 


66 


71 




14 


" 31 


38 


22 


47 


23 






Sunday. Stormy. 


15 


June 1 


37 


26 


43 


50 






Stormy. Gale. No obs. 


16 


" 2 


37 


12 


41 


21 






Stormy. Gale. No obs. 


17 


" 3 


37 


43 


39 


01 


62 


67 




18 


" 4 


37 


22 


36 


44 


70 


68 




19 


u 5 


37 


00 


35 


24 








20 


" 6 


36 


53 


35 


20 






Saw a whale. 


21 


" 7 


35 


05 


36 


04 






Sunday. 


22 


" 8 


36 


20 


36 


15 








23 


" 9 


36 


30 


35 


00 








24 


" 10 


36 


55 


32 


30 


72 


72 


Stormy. Squalls. 


25 


" 11 


36 


24 


30 


27 






Stormy. 


26 


" 12 


38 


05 


29 


23 






Stormy. 


27 


" 13 


39 


12 


28 


08 






Foggy- 


28 


" 14 


39 


09 


25 


47 






Thunder st'm. MadeTercelra 


29 


" 15 


39 


28 


23 


54 






Thunder storm. No obs. 


30 


" 16 


40 


15 


21 


50 






Stormy. 


31 


« 17 


39 


59 


19 


37 








32 


" 18 


39 


27 


17 


43 








33 


" 19 


38 


39 


15 


52 








34 


" 20 


38 


20 


13 


12 






Stormy. No obs. 


35 


" 21 


37 


24 


10 


23 






Sunday. Stormy. 


36 


" 22 


36 


53 


8 


06 






Stormy. Passed C. St. Vin- 
cent, Lat. 37° 03' L. 9° 02'. 


37 


" 23 


36 


32 


6 


18 






Anchored off Cadiz. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 139 



CHAPTER X. 

CADIZ OUTSIDE THE WALLS. 

At the end of my voyage you will perceive that we had cast 
our anchor in the bay of Cadiz, and got rid of the u Sani- 
dads" and the Health Commission. Scarcely had the 
cordon sanitaire been withdrawn, before our ship was sur- 
rounded with boats of all sizes, and of every imaginable rig, 
which had kept at a respectful distance while we were under- 
going examination as to the state of our health. Hesus ! — 
how the dealers in fruit and water, and the jobbers in small 
accommodations came tumbling over our sides ! Bedlam was 
let loose on deck, and we were taken captive by boarding. 
Such a clatter of tongues is almost inconceivable. How 
often have we heard of the sedateness and sobriety of the 
Spaniards ! It is all moonshine, among the lower class. 
None but the hidalgo will put on the reserve and pomposity 
of the race, which we read of in the books — and even the 
hidalgo, the " son of something," is going out of date, cloak 
and all, leaving the Spaniard very much like other people, 
class for class, all over the world. 

While the contest on deck was still raging high, as to who 



HO THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

should be the fortunate venders of oranges and melons, figs, 
fish and meat, vegetables and bread, to the crew, as well as 
to the rest of us further aft, we were visited by the junior 
partner of the respectable house of R & Sons, our con- 
signees, who had been advised of our coming by the last 
English steamer from America, and had telegraphed our 
signal at the mast-head, long before we had entered the bay 
or come to anchor. After reading his private letters, which 
the captain had luckily saved from the grasp of the post- 
office, this young gentleman offered us his services as guide 
for the morning, which we gladly availed ourselves of. I 
hold myself indebted to him for much valuable information, 
and for a closer view of the interior of Cadiz than I should 
otherwise have had, if I had relied upon my own resources. 

I took no letters of introduction ; as, heretofore, I had 
found them impediments to freedom of locomotion and inves- 
tigation, rather than aids to my progress in the pursuit of 
knowledge, or in the study of man as he is. I relied, an( 
experience confirms me in the intention hereafter to rely, 
mainly upon the "almighty dollar" to open all the sources 
of information that may come in my way, aided by a chanct 
that to me has often proved lucky and opportune. Gene- 
rally speaking, letters of introduction, unless coupled with 
letters of credit for the " needful," are worse than useless. 
"Without the dollars you are a nonentity. If you present 
them (I mean your letters) to the wealthy, or the fashionable, 
or even to the learned, you are expected to walk in their 
footsteps, and to see with their eyes. If you exhibit any 
self-will, or depart from the path chalked out for you, you 
must expect the cut-direct. A guide book, silly and meagre 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



as it is generally, is preferable to epistolary introduction ; 
for you can throw the former aside when you wish ; disbe- 
lieve it when you find it lying ; or pitch it into the fire when 
you discover its catch-penny character ; and then you may 
dive, in your own way, into the depths where human nature 
secretes itself, or ascend, when you please, to the study of 
men and institutions which may be worthy of your regard. 
Therefore, as I have previously laid down the rule, fit your- 
self in the first place for travel, by becoming well acquainted 
with your own country ; and then take that same almighty 
dollar with you wherever you go. A well lined purse is the 
best letter of introduction that can be fabricated. It is the 
"open-sesame" every where; and, by its passport-virtue, 
the title to respectability of the possessor is never questioned. 
Doors fly open, and the high and the low fall down before it ; 
in short, it is omnipotent. You may call these assertions 
degrading to humanity and to the present advanced state of 
civilization, if you like ; but they are true nevertheless. 
Virtue and distinction, learning and uprightness of conduct, 
avail nothing, and may go and beg without it — especially in 
dollar-loving England, which is always prating of the high 
moral duties which other nations ought to pursue, but which 
it never practises by way of example. The only countries 
where letters of introduction have a real value, are America 
and Ireland, for the almighty dollar is a secondary consid- 
eration there. In each of these, your letters make you free 
of the whole country — free to come, and free to go, when- 
ever and wherever you please, with open hospitality every- 
where. But, even in these countries, they are not absolutely 
necessary, except perhaps to get the first foothold in society. 



142 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

There is a natural, confiding spirit in Ireland and America, 
which often gets imposed upon to be sure, but which never 
ceases to cherish and uphold the stranger. 

I left the old ship without reluctance, and expended 
neither sigh nor tear upon her memory. Jumping into the 
little clean latteen sail-boat alongside, belonging to our con- 
signee, and leaving directions for our boat to be at the land- 
ing-place at nightfall, we gave our sail to the wind, and, in a 
few minutes, rounded to at the water-gate of the city. 

I leaped ashore and ascended the same stone steps which 
had been ascended by Columbus in chains, just three centu- 
ries and a half before, on his return from that far distant 
land which he had discovered, of which I am a native and a 
freeman. Here, on this very spot, was he received, in 
silence and with tears, by the vast multitude who thronged 
to the landing-place and the walls, to get sight of the Great 
Captain, who had covered the Spanish name with imperish- 
able glory, but who then returned loaded with disgraceful 
and unmerited bonds. It was here that the venerated form 
of Columbus passed before them ; and, as he lifted his 
chains, in a silent appeal to their justice, it was here that an 
unrestrained mutiny broke forth in his behalf, which threat- 
ened the very kingdom with dissolution. Passing from 
mouth to mouth, the murmur ran throughout Spain, that the 
discoverer of the New World had been brought home in 
chains. The astounding fact reached the ears of Ferdinand, 
who was not only suspected, but openly accused, of inflicting 
this mark of deepest ingratitude on his greatest benefactor, 
from the meanest motives of jealousy. The accusation was 
not without foundation ; and that frightened monarch hast- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 143 



ened to make reparation for the indignity, and to allay the 
tumults of the people, who boldly called out for redress of 
the inflicted wrong. But the iron had entered the soul of 
Columbus ; and the gorgeous reception which Ferdinand and 
Isabella afterwards gave him, descending from the throne 
to take off his chains in the sight of the people, could not 
compensate him for the crushing disgrace he had suffered ; 
nor could all the honors, which they showered upon him, 
pluck out the sting of the infliction. The chain he then 
wore was henceforth hung up in his chamber, and, by his 
direction, was buried with him. 

How few of the great men who have appeared in the world, 
live in their own time ! It is with posterity that they find 
appreciation. Our own Washington, who in his good and 
noble qualities is the only counterpart of Columbus to be 
found in history, hardly escaped the blight of cotemporary 
envy and injustice. They will both live together, and their 
fame will go down together, hand-in-hand, to the end of 
time. 

How different was the scene now, while I stood upon the 
noble quay, and was about to enter the city that had com- 
pelled justice to be done to Columbus, and has since been 
celebrated as the most patriotic and steadfast of any city in 
the broad and fertile kingdom of Spain ! She was the only 
one that successfully resisted the terrific onslaught of Napo- 
leon and his generals ; and her people for that reason point 
to her exultingly, and call her " Cadiz the unconquered !" 
She was founded by Hercules, they say, as her name in the 
original indicates ; and well has she upheld the honor of his 
historic reputation ! 



144 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER XI. 

LIFE UPON THE MOLE OF CADIZ. 

The people upon the landing-place of Cadiz seemed to be of 
all nations, kindred and tongues. "Tongues," did I say? 
The confusion at the city of Babel was not more uproarious. 
The habiliments of the different races were as party-colored 
and divers as their speech. Here were hundreds of the Spanish 
watermen around me, clamoring and quarrelling for employ- 
ment ; but although they barked loudly, they bit not. I look- 
ed in vain for the Spanish clasp-knife, which agonizing travel- 
lers tell you is the invariable pendant to the Spaniard's dress. 

Poor Borrow, (he of the Bible in Spain,) was never in 
luck !— he was always twenty-four hours out of the way of the 
last murder committed by means of this trenchant instrument. 
He heard of assassinations, but was never " in at the death." 

Indeed I suspected that the quarrelsome and loud taunting 
words, bandied among these people in my hearing, were 
more the results of habit, than meant for provocation ; for a 
jeer and a laugh would follow almost every oath or repartee 
of these non-combatants, who, a stranger would think, were 
always at the point of falling to fisticuffs. There was not a 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



ragged Spaniard among them — all were clean and tidy, 
watermen though they were ; and the never-failing sash of 
red silk gave them quite an air of gentility in their way. 

Here I saw the Jew in his gabardine and skull-cap, and 
the Moor in his wide trousers and dingy turban, bargaining 
for commodities with the Spaniard, in high and angry alter- 
cation : and there, the Greek and the Italian, the free-trading 
Genoese, and the half- Spanish-half-English smuggler from 
Gibraltar, mingling with the fishermen, the water-carriers, and 
the fruit-men, all crying their commodities at the top of their 
voices, with a most striking and peculiar prolongation of the 
words ; some were of the pure Caucasian white and red, 
some were tawny, and some of the deepest jet of African 
blackness; all were mingled pell-mell and in motion, all 
sellers and no buyers ; and together they sent up a con- 
fused and deafening shout, and kept up an encounter of 
tongues that were perfectly bewildering. The rivalry of the 
congregated cries of London and New-York put together 
could not equal it. The scene in Masaniello is but a faint 
picture of the reality before me : — 

Here's fish alive, and none can sell 
You finer for your money ; 
If daintily you wish to dine, 
Who'll show you poultry fat as mine % 

Who'll huy my peas 1 Who'll buy my cheese ? 

Who'll buy my macaroni ? 

'Tis I that sell the best— 'Tis I,— 

Come hither all who wish to buy ! 

Every other man and boy seemed to bear the name of 
Jlntonio. Pedro and Jose and Alfonso were ever crying 

7 



146 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

unto Antonio ! The name was shouted, and bandied about 
from one end of the landing-place to the other, sometimes in 
a tone of voice rivalling the trumpet, and as often in the 
shrill piping cry of boyhood : Antoni-o ! Antoni-o-o-o ! 
Sometimes the Spanish method of drawling the name was not 
quite long enough to reach the object intended ; and then 
another impatient syllable would be added, thus — " An- 
toni-o-Aa/" Figaro himself could not be more distracted 
with his customers, than this same Antonio with the calls 
upon his name. 

I was about going in at the Water- Gate — the principal 
entrance to the city. If, as a stranger landing upon a 
foreign shore, I felt some indescribable sensations, which were 
greatly enhanced in intensity by knowing that I was standing 
for the first time on European soil, where the Geryon, Her- 
cules, Hannibal, Cesar, and a greater than all, Columbus, 
had stood — I confess that not many minutes elapsed, before 
the striking and confused uproar around me drove all my 
sublime imaginings out of my head- I found it wanted only 
myself, a full-blooded American, to complete the scene, and 
to fill up the representation from every quarter of the world. 
My sobriety of mood on landing had risen into astonish- 
ment and wonder already; and the humour was verging 
towards the inclination to laugh outright, at the broad farce 
of the life going on around me on the threshold of the great 
city, when the climax came, in the shape of a pressing invita- 
tion, in French, from the keeper of a junk-shop, to enter and 
purchase some of his wares ! 

" Chatham street, and the German Jew pawn-brokers all 
oyer again !" exclaimed one of my companions. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 147 



The shop was a miserable shanty stuck up against the 
side of the city-wall. The sign over the door indicated that 
"Nautical Ornaments" were for sale there, in those 
peculiarly consumptive-looking yellow letters, which none 
but a French artist can paint ; and I thought to myself, that 
none other than the imagination of a Frenchman, could con- 
ceive a sign so queer, unique and bizarre. Being urgently 
pressed, after the persuasive manner of our Chatham-street- 
ers when they have a green-horn by the button, I stepped in 
to take a look at the " ornaments." Passing a maimed 
anchor at the door-way, I found the usual assortment of old 
iron, spikes, bolts, oakum, junk or short pieces of old tarred 
rope, iron hoops, broken boat-hooks, rusty hinges, and the 
like, which formed the Frenchman's stock in trade, and the 
sum-total of his nautical ornature. He evidently mistook me 
for a sea-captain. But, after all, the sign of the Frenchman 
was in no wise more obnoxious to criticism, nor more outre 
than that of the cobbler in my own city, who advertised, by 
his shingle, " Boots and Shoes mended here, and other Jew- 
elry for sale." Supposing Crispin had manufactured leather 
medals, which he might well do, for the thousand Yankee 
" professors" who swarm over the land in the winter season, 
informing us that their " Pilgrim Fathers" were " pioneers 
of our liberty" and " openers of this Continent," and explain- 
ing to admiring audiences the mysteries of newly -in vented 
rat-traps, the efficacy of borax and red precipitate for the 
piles, and the moral effect of reducing Italian music to the 
nasal standard of New England — the "jewelry" part of the 
cobbler's sign, would be no less appropriate, than that of the 
Frenchman's "nautical ornaments," when applied to his 



148 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

stock of oakum and rusty iron for the use of the sea-faring. 
In fact, the lettered announcements would apply about equally ! 

Before me, now, was the broad portal of the fortress-city 
of Cadiz. Projecting several miles into the sea, and sur- 
rounded by that element except at a small peninsular neck 
or causeway, that connects the city with the main land, it 
was an easy undertaking to fortify such a place with a sea- 
wall at the water's edge. Most admirably has it been done ; 
and in a manner so high and massive as to render it impreg- 
nable to any force that can be brought against it by land or 
sea. It is emphatically a " walled town" in the best and 
most formidable sense of the term. Frowning over me were 
the tall battlements, with successive tiers of guns of the larg- 
est calibre ; and on the top, with an unobstructed range, 
guns are planted, obtruding their menacing muzzles from the 
embrazures, for the entire circuit of the city. Talk of cas- 
tles and isolated fortresses ! They must all dwindle to pig- 
mies when compared with " Cadiz the unconquered," with 
her brazen armament of a thousand guns. She needs but 
men to man them, and powder and ball to serve them, when 
she may safely defy the world in arms. If the outside of 
the city looks vast and imposing, the interior is no less so. 
Every house is a castle of itself, and, as far as I could judge, 
bomb-proof. The squares, and narrow open streets, and the 
tops of the houses only, are dangerous when such missives are 
flying abroad. If you remain within-doors you are safe from 
harm, and shielded from injury. 

I had been directed by the boarding officer, who had car- 
ried off my passport, to apply for it at the gate, where there 
was an office of registry. I did not find it there, however ; 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



but was referred to an office of the Police department, whither 
it had been sent for a second entry. Thither I posted, and 
in a distant quarter of the town, recovered my document 
duly endorsed, paid my initiation fee, and received the free- 
dom of the city for an indefinite time. Let those who come 
after me take care, as I did, to have their passports regularly 
vised by some Spanish Consul at home ; for, being thus cer- 
tified, you are saved a great deal of trouble and vexatious 
delay, and perhaps may not be permitted to land without it. 
In some Italian territories that ceremony is indespensable ; 
and in Spain, though with a less jealous government than some 
Italians have, the course I have indicated is the prudent one 
at any rate. The captain also got back his log-book and 
manifest, after they had gone the rounds of inspection ; and 
the latter paper he was advised to hand over to the consignee, 
who assured him that it would be impossible for him (the 
captain) to go through all the ramifications of the Custom 
House unaided, as his ship and cargo would have to undergo 
at least fifty entries, each with a corresponding expense, 
before he would be permitted to break bulk ! 

Such, however, is the intricacy of the Spanish Custom 
House ; and taking this as a small sample of the exactions 
in the Spanish customs, added to the government monopolies 
and the enormous and almost prohibitory duties, amounting 
in some cases to several hundred per cent., levied upon every 
thing not the growth or manufacture of their own soil, you 
have a fair card of the antipodes of free trade, existing in 
this and most other cities in the south of Europe. What is 
the invariable consequence ! The utter prostration of trade, 
and the most abandoned and daring system of smuggling • 



150 THE ROMANCE OF YACHT ING. 

and, in the main, the government treasury does not receive 
half as much from its high tariff system, as it would by mod- 
erate ad valorem duties. I soon found that the greatest 
sticklers here for these high and oppressive duties, are the 
greatest patrons of the smuggler. It is literal free trade 
with them, being all clear gain except the first cost of the 
commodity ; while the fair trader must submit to the tariff 
enormity, or do no business at all. A duty of twenty or 
thirty per cent, upon all goods, would soon put a stop to 
smuggling ; for the contrabandista would then not find it 
worth his while to "fly by night ;" and thus the treasury 
and the government and all honest merchants would alike 
flourish in consequence. This simple measure would regen- 
erate all Spain in a single year ; give life and activity to her 
depressed people ; and send her soldiers back to their trades 
and their general industry, in which last mentioned virtue the 
Spaniards, as a mass, are not lacking, whatever the silly 
tourists may say to the contrary. Happiness and content- 
ment would then spread over this land, favored by Heaven 
above all others, in soil and climate ; and revolution and 
conspiracy would be heard of no more. 

The power of the priesthood has long been at an end ; 
and whatever now remains of demoralization in the Spanish 
character, may be directly, and not remotely, referred to her 
revenue laws, and the infamous government monopolies, that 
restrain the native energies of the people. The government 
acted wisely in depriving the overgrown and tyrannical reli- 
gious establishments of their ill-gotten wealth, wrung from 
the fears and superstitions they had instilled ; but that same 
government does not, or will not see that it is exerting an 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 151 



equally cramping and tyrannical system of its own, which, 
if relaxed to moderation, would contribute to the prosperity 
of all classes, and, indeed, fill the full measure of all the 
reform at present needed, except in the department of educa- 
tion. The great mass of the Spanish people are active, 
intelligent and prone to industry. They don't care a button 
whether the queen marries her " spooney" of a cousin, or 
any other royal ass ; nor whether her sister unites her destiny 
with a son of the small-souled Louis Philippe of France, or to 
a needy scion of that prolific and convenient sour-krout house, 
that furnishes sovereigns ready made for any vacant place in 
Europe. Let the ports of Spain be opened to commerce, 
upon principles of reciprocity, with liberal nations, and the 
natural demand and exchange of products which would ensue, 
would stimulate and bring back the people to their former 
industrious habits. All they want is something to do which 
may turn to account, and furnish them a competent liveli- 
hood ; and the government may go on as it pleases, provided 
the charter of their personal liberty, as it now exists, (1846,) 
is not invaded. I predict that unless this is done speedily, 
the brave Spaniards of the middle class, who already laugh 
to scorn the bayonets they see around them in the hands of 
mercenaries, will one of these days wipe away this impotent 
dynasty, and the imbecile and narrow minded nobles, like 
musty cobwebs. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CADIZ INSIDE THE WALLS. 

I got inside the city at last. If I left bedlam outside the 
walls I found two bedlams within. Passing a guard of sol- 
diers under arms at the gate, and also the relief, who were 
lounging about upon stone benches, smoking their paper 
cigars, (small things manufactured on the spot, by folding up 
a pinch of tobacco in a little square piece of white paper,) I 
came at once upon the market-place. Fruit stalls, overloaded 
with delicious oranges, ripe figs, grapes, bananas, and every 
sort of culinary vegetable, and piles of delicate fruitery be- 
sides, that met my eyes and regaled my senses after my long 
and irksome sea-voyage, like the glitter of the genial sun after 
he has been hid in cloud and storm for many days, seemed to 
me very much like the first view of Paradise, after one gets 
general-jail-delivery from Purgatory ! Then there were th( 
meat and the fish stalls, the tunny and the bass and the 
golden sea mullet, all jumping alive and knocking about in 
the cars : — my eyes ! how eagerly they took the whole in at 
a glance! Amidst the never-ceasing and deafening cries 
of the venders, each overtopping the other in vociferation 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 15a 

and witticism, I went about hither and thither, made many- 
purchases, and got laughed at for being as often imposed 
upon in the prices ; — but no matter for that — the ship fared 
well that day, fore and aft, and so did I on shore, in the 
midst of indescribable profusion, all the produce of sunny 
Andalusia. 

The money I received, in exchange for hard Spanish 
dollars, was a most provoking return for yielding up my 
faultless coinage of olden time. Spanish milled dollars, I 
found, were great curiosities in Spain ; nothing, indeed, was so 
scarce or so much coveted as these same pieces of eight. 
One would suppose that Spain was the very country wherein to 
find its own coinage, in greater circulation than elsewhere. 
I did not find it so, by any manner of means. Worn out 
pistareens, (passing for full twenty cents of our money, and 
equal to a franc, or one-fifth of a dollar,) dilapidated reals 
and half-reals, intermingled with other small incomprehen- 
sible coin, bearing ugly heads and misshapen crosses and 
devices, from every petty principality bordering on the Medi- 
teranean, together with showers of greenish, mouldy cop- 
pers, with the impress of every nation under the sun, except 
our own, (the most beautiful coinage of all,) accumulated in 
my purse to such an extent that I began to feel uncomfortable 
in " toting" it about my person, so bulky and miscellaneous 
had it grown. The avoirdupois thereof became quite annoy- 
ing ; but the rascals, as I proceeded in my purchases, would 
seldom relieve me of any of the mass, while they had a 
chance at my perfect Spanish dollars, of which they were 
quick to get sight upon the production of my purse. At last 

I was fain to hide the Caroluses away, and show nothing but 

7# 



154 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

my handful of uncountable pieces. The next man was .cer- 
tain to reject what his neighbor had given me in change, 
pointing out, with a scientific indication of the finger, the 
little hole in one piece, the nick in the side of another, the 
bold and unscrupulous clipping of a third, and the skilful 
excavation of others, which plainly showed me that my pro- 
miscuous and lately acquired treasure had been in the hands 
of the Jews, who had chiseled and clipped, and bored and 
sweated them out of their fair proportions. Even the beg- 
gars and errand-boys would return them with a shake of the 
head, muttering the words " no good, serior !" 

At last I got rid of these cognoscenti in small money, and 
pocketed my losses ; but the lesson was not lost, and so I came 
to the resolution of permitting my guide (I had already been 
furnished with a professional one) to be my purse-bearer for 
the future ; and thereafter handing him my handful of change, 
I had no cause of complaint, for it was " diamond cut dia- 
mond." Sometimes he (my guide) would carry the dispute 
so far as to annoy me with his higgling about prices, and the 
requisite change ; and I had frequently to interfere and let 
the rogues have their own way in small matters. The reply 
was, invariably, " No, serior, the thief would not dare to act 
so if you were not present ; he counts upon the proverbial 
indifference of your nation to the price, when the article suits 
you ; and I intend to hold out, to teach him better manners 
when he deals with a gentleman." 

" Ah, thank you, Serior Antonio, be it so ; but don't keep 
me standing here so long — Push on !" 

At this intimation, my Don Antonio would cut the matter 
short, throw down the article, replace the money, fokl the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 155 



purse within his belt, and walk on a few paces resolutely ; 
leaving behind an article, perhaps, of choice fruit, which I 
coveted very much, and had requested him to purchase 
for me. In such cases, however, my regrets were but 
momentary ; for our backs would scarcely be turned, be- 
fore the cry of " Holla ! come back ! come back I" would 
arrest our steps ; and Don Antonio would tyrannize in his 
turn, like a victor who feels that he has the advantage in 
dictating terms. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE ALAMEDA. 



Of all clean and delightful cities, whether inland or border- 
ing upon the sea, commend me to Cadiz. No place addicted 
to commerce, that I have ever seen, approaches so nearly to 
perfection in cleanliness, locality, uniformity and solidity, as 
this city. I had been taught to believe that its narrow 
streets, built narrow from necessity perhaps, (they told me it 
was to guard against the fierce rays of the sun in midsum- 
mer,) were the personification of filth and wretchedness. 
Not so, by a long shot, did I find them. Every street is 
paved in the most thorough manner ; and the side-walk, 
though not raised like ours, is carefully flagged. Towards 
midnight, or at a very late hour established by law, the citi- 
zens are allowed to throw out their dust and dirt which have 
accumulated during the day ; but no offal, or other offensive 
material is permitted to be deposited in the street. Soon 
after midnight, and long before sunrise, (listen to this, ye 
city fathers of New- York !) all this filth is removed, and the 
streets swept irreproachably clean ; so that, sally forth when 
you will after sunrise, you are not annoyed with a particle 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 157 



of dust. The gentle sea-breeze, which finds its way about 
the streets, and through your lattice, is never laden with dust 
or disagreeable effluvia — except, perhaps, about an hour 
after midnight, when you may possibly catch a sniff of some- 
thing disagreeable in its aroma, while passing through the 
streets towards the sea — but after ihat, the entire city may 
be said to be " disinfected" for the next 24 hours. 

Every house is built of stone in the most substantial man- 
ner ; the floors whereof are marble or large brick tiles, laid 
in mortar or cement, and ground smooth upon the upper sur- 
face, so that the buildings may be said to be incombustible. 
The walls, throughout, are often whitewashed, and the floors 
are scrubbed and cleansed every day. The thickness of the 
walls and the grateful coolness of the smooth tiles beneath 
your feet, preserve a delightful temperature within, notwith- 
standing the intense summer heat without at noon. If, how- 
ever, in the heated hours of the day, you are compelled to be 
abroad, you can select a shady street for your perambu- 
lations; and at nearly all hours of the day the gentle sea- 
breeze circulates throughout the city, meeting you full in the 
face, or tempering the air about you. 

There are times, however, when the sea is unruffled by the 
breeze, and then it surrounds the city like a mirror of mol- 
ten glass. When this occurs in the day-time, the streets 
are exceedingly sultry, and your escape to the interior of 
your hotel is your only remedy. But at evening, with the 
deep blue canopy of the Spanish sky above you, gemmed 
with stars, whether the sea-breeze prevails or not, walking 
abroad is the order of the day. As soon as the sun has lost 
his power, the rampart, or sea-wall, begins to be peopled 



153 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

with all classes, who wend their way slowly along the margin 
of the sea, or seat themselves on the beautiful marble benches 
in their way. The deep embrasures, and countless and 
superb brass cannon of the upper battery, are the only 
objects obstructing a clear view into the offing, which is, at 
times, covered by vessels of all nations. At night-fall this 
Alameda, one of the finest in the world, is full of people ; 
and from that time until the hour of rest, even unto midnight, 
when the chimes of the Cathedral bells give the hint for 
retiring, the moving to and fro of the well-dressed multitude 
forms a panoramic feature of life in Cadiz, that one can no 
where else behold. Many an hour have I lingered there of a 
moonlit night, comtemplating that lovely picture ; and I 
have always retired with regret, and with renewed longings 
for the same hour to come again, which would bring the same 
people, the same sky, the same sea, and the same scene around 
and above me. 

Ah ! who shall tell, (" wreaking thought upon expression" 
to the full measure of description,) who shall tell all the fasci- 
nation that invests the Spanish female as she comes forth 
upon the Alameda ! I confess my inability to do so ; yet the 
memories of some of that lovely creation hang about me so 
vividly, and withal so dream-like, that the impression 
remains upon me, even unto this hour. The girl of Cadiz ! 
— she is a thing I have looked upon and worshipped, but still 
she is a wonder indescribable, incomprehensible, and passing 
my understanding ! •" American Salvage" that I am ! Beauty 
of female form and feature I had left behind me, in my own 
country, in vast multitudes and in unapproachable loveliness 
and symmetry. But where, except in Spain, have I seen 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 159 



that full voluptuous form, those luscious eyes, that incom- 
parable movement of the body, that perfect abandon of man- 
ner, that majestic Andalusian walk, that confiding yet 
modest and affectionate intercourse in society, which " think- 
eth no evil and feareth no evil" in the intercourse ! Oh, 
Andalusia ! thou hast much to answer for in leading men's 
thoughts away from heaven : — or dost thou lead them up to 
it? Thy soil, thy climate, thy fruits and thy dark-eyed 
women form a Paradise here, which would take away much 
of the desire of the Paradise of the future, were we not 
taught that this is but the foretaste of that which is to come, 
and that " the eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath 
it entered into the heart of man to conceive of the joys of an 
hereafter." — See 1 Cor. 2 and 9, and other authorities, 
passim / 

The Girl of Cadiz, is she not prettily pourtrayed by By- 
ron 1 Had he stopped here in his comments upon Spanish 
women it would have been well. His subsequent reckless 
and most wanton assaults upon the Spanish female character, 
are justly complained of in Spain. These admirable lines 
of his were in the original manuscript of the first canto of 
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ; but those " to Inez" are found 
in their stead in the printed copy. We have no clew to his 
object in substituting the last mentioned weak and puerile 
stanzas for these below, which are greatly superior. 

I. 

Oh never talk again to me 

Of northern climes and British ladies ; 
It has not been your lot to see, 

Like me. the lovely girl of Cadiz. 



160 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

Although her eyes be not of blue, 

Nor fair her locks, like English lasses, 

How far its own expressive hue 
The languid azure eye surpasses ! 

II. 

Prometheus-like, from heaven she stole 

The fire, that through those silken lashes, 
In darkest glances seems to roll, 

From eyes that cannot hide their flashes : 
And as along her bosom steal 

In lengthened flow her raven tresses, 
You'd swear each clustering lock could feel, 

And curled to give her neck caresses. 

III. 

Our English maids are long to woo, 

And frigid even in possession ; 
And if their charms be fair to view, 

Their lips are slow at love's confession : 
But born beneath a brighter sun, 

For love ordained the Spanish maid is ; 
And who, when fondly, fairly won, 

Enchants you like the girl of Cadiz % 

IV. 

The Spanish maid is no coquette, 

Nor joys to see a lover tremble, 
And if she love, or if she hate, 

Alike she knows not to dissemble. 
Her heart can ne'er be bought or sold,— 

Howe'er it beats, it beats sincerely ; 
And, though it will not bend to gold, 

'Twill love you long and love you dearly. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 161 

V. 

The Spanish girl that meets your love, 

Ne'er taunts you with a mock denial, 
For every thought is hent to prove 

Her passion in the hour of trial. 
When thronging foemen menace Spain, 

She dares the deed and shares the danger • 
And should her lover press the plain, 

She hurls the spear, her love's avenger. 

VI. 

And when, beneath the evening star, 

She mingles in the gay Bolero, 
Or sings to her attuned guitar 

Of Christian knight or Moorish hero, 

c 

Or counts her beads with fairy hand 

Beneath the twinkling rays of Hesper, 
Or joins devotion's choral band, 

To chant the sweet and hallow'd vesper, — 

VII. 

In each her charms the heart must move 

Of all who venture to behold her ; 
Then let not maids less fair reprove, 

Because her bosom is not colder : 
Through many a clime 'tis mine to roam, 

Where many a soft and melting maid is, 
But none abroad, and few at home, 

May match the dark-eyed girl of Cadiz ! 



162 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



IAPTER XIV. 

-SPANISH WOMEN. 

I strolled about the city on the Eve of St. John — a high 
holiday throughout Spain. I could not have come to 
Cadiz at a season more opportune. As the evening 
closed in, every house appeared to be abandoned, and the 
streets and public places were filled by the people. The 
inhabitants were all astir. The bells of the churches were 
ringing in their might ; not with a regular peal, but with a 
ding-dong upon the chimes, that to me had no meaning in 
particular, except to create a noise, doubtless intended to be 
joyous. First came the tinkle upon the smaller bells, then a 
variation upon some of larger calibre, and anon the deep 
tone of the big bell, full of solemnity ; but, on the whole, the 
ceaseless clang upon the smaller bells sounded to me (in the 
jingle of the tune at least) very much like the " cooper's 
march" as played by a skillful artist upon the side of a 
barrel, when he is briskly driving home his hoops. Let me 
not be considered irreverent. There must have been much 
occult and catholic meaning in this roundelay of bell-ham- 
mers. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 163 



In the mass that now swayed backward and forward 
through the streets, I discovered that the women greatly 
predominated. Every one, I believe without a single excep- 
tion, was dressed in the manner peculiar to the Spanish woman 
and as she alone can decorate herself. Except among the 
very highest class, who, to my great regret, had adopted the 
Parisian fashions, the Spanish cut of the dress prevailed. 
Now all had the graceful mantilla, fastened as a head-dress 
by the high tortoise-shell comb and flowing over the should- 
ers ; the never-failing fan ; the tight boddice and short 
skirt ; the silk stocking and the prettiest foot and the pret- 
tiest shoe imaginable. These gave token of the whereabout 
of Spanish beauties. Very few of them were attended by 
males, and the ancient duenna was nowhere to be seen. 
There seemed to be no fear nor anticipation of insult in their 
demeanor ; no fright, no running, no hurried glances : on the 
contrary, they passed along confidently and joyously, talking 
to one another in the most cheerful manner ; and whenever 
they were met by groups of the other sex, the men gave way 
kindly and respectfully, and without making any remark 
upon the females. No rudeness, no quarrelling, no high and 
angry words, no incivility occurred. All were bent upon 
pleasure ; and each went his or her own way, undisturbed and 
unobstructed. The women were going forth free as air. 
Where was that lynx-eyed Spanish jealousy, all this time, 
that travellers tell off? I saw it not, at any rate, nor did I 
see any thing calculated to mar a delightful scene of festiv- 
ity, either in word or act ; and there was not the slightest 
attempt at molestation exhibited towards the female upon 
this occasion, nor upon any other, that came under my notice. 



164 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING 

Truly these Cadiz people must have a proper appreciation of 
the obligations and civilities of society, or their police must 
be the most perfect of any in the world ! 

Directly the city became illuminated by bonfires in the 
streets in all directions. Where the material comes from to 
feed these innumerable fires, is quite a question with the 
stranger ; for fire-wood is almost unknown in Spain, espe- 
cially upon its sea-coasts. Small as the matter may appear, 
it led to some enquiry ; and I was taught thereby to observe 
a never-failing trait in the Spanish character, namely, that 
of hoarding up, for subsequent use, any article or fund which 
a future occasion may require. If a bull-fight, or great na- 
tional or religious festival is to come off a long day ahead, 
(and they have in Spain many a saint and holiday,) that 
day is not permitted to take care of itself, in the spirit of 
improvidence that actuates other people ; but the saving by 
degrees of the wherewithal necessary to defray the ex- 
pense, or to make an appropriate show or appearance, is 
sure to be begun in time, and scrupulously adhered to, until 
the advent of the day set down in the calendar. Hence, 
while charcoal is invariably used in the cooking apparatus, 
the sticks and shavings of the cooper's shop, and the empty 
tar-barrel, are laid aside for the bonfire of the gala-day. 
Certes, the long streets and short streets, and the crooked 
lanes of Cadiz were lit up with a profusion of flammable mate- 
rial on St. John's Eve, which turned night into day for 
several hours. The boys had this matter nearly all to 
themselves ; and, like all other boys, they fed the flames and 
danced round the fires, after the manner of other young imps 
Tbent upon making a sensation in that familiar and dangerous 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 165 

pastime, which, in cities not built of stoiH, creates a good 
deal of anxiety in the older inhabitants. Here, however, 
the women themselves, old and young, gathered round the 
fires, and cheered the little fellows on in their holy work, and 
clapped their hands with delight whenever a youngster made 
a successful leap over the flame. 

An incident occurred to me just here, which I am strongly 
tempted to suppress ; but truth is mighty, et cetera. You 
have heard of balconies, and senoritas, and guitars, and rope 
ladders, in all Spanish romances of course. While standing 
an idle spectator of one of these bonfires, blazing away in 
honor of the memory of St. John the Baptist, I saw a window 
open on a balcony not far distant, and a female form, fully 
revealed by the light, leaned over the railing. Presently she 
caught my eye, or my eye caught hers ; and, after gazing 
in my direction intently for a minute, she raised her little jew- 
elled forefinger to her lips, and then beckoned me to approach. 
Heavens ! thought I, can she mean me ? Her eyes were 
not gimlet, and she certainly looked straight at me. Turn- 
ing to a Scotch friend by my side, I told him to regard the 
phenomenon, and gave him to understand that he was the 
object of her solicitude. She made another unequivocal 
motion with her hand, and smiled most sweetly on my com- 
panion also. 

" Oh, dom !" said he impatiently, " she is nothing but a 
dom'd — - !» 

I will not repeat his last word. It was a most indecorous 
insinuation, rather broadly put, and I turned away from 
the scene and the sefiorita, musing upon the depravity which 
was perhaps all around me. Every writer on Spain and 



166 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

Spanish customs (save one) whom I have ever read, never 
loses the opportunity of speaking disparagingly of female 
virtue throughout the land. That one writer, an American, 
speaks thus : 

" The women of Spain are distinguished for beauty of per- 
son and dignity of manner ; and are noted for their fidelity 
and constancy. The strictness with which they were form- 
erly treated, and the seclusion in which they were kept, are 
in a great measure done away." 

The above writer is nearer the truth than any or all the 
others who have expressed a contrary or doubting opinion. 
The one most quoted is Byron, who seems to luxuriate in 
lascivious flings at Spanish women ; and, since his time, 
nearly all others have adopted his sayings as incontestably 
true, and the thing seems to be settled by English writers 
that female virtue does not exist in Spain. 

I here, as a matter of justice, record my testimony in 
favor of the Spanish women. With the exception of the 
above instance of equivocal conduct which I witnessed in 
Cadiz, I have, in all my wanderings in Spain, never seen the 
Spanish woman, young or old, who was not entirely exem- 
plary in her conduct, and irreproachable in her character 
and manners. I have never yet seen the Spanish woman 
who was not careful to fulfil her duties to her family, and 
maintain the high self-respect which accompanies personal 
purity. I did not go into the stews to find specimens of 
Spanish female character or virtue. The abandoned crea- 
ture may be found in all other countries as well as here ; 
and Spain is therefore not alone in that respect. I have 
seen Spanish mothers and daughters in their own homes, and 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 167 

P . 

have seen them abroad in society ; and it is upon such 
occasions that I have made up my estimate of their charac- 
ter. Now, show me what English traveller, or writer, has 
done the same. There is not one who has not adopted the 
libels of his predecessors, without knowledge of the facts he 
relates ; and all, with a cruelty which deserves execration, 
have passed off the base dogmas and opinions of others, in 
this respect, as the result of their own observations, or else, 
like Byron, they have consorted with the debased of the sex 
in the common receptacles of vice, and with none others. 



163 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE GUARD AND THE TAVERNA. 

I had appointed a boat to wait for me at the landing-place 
outside the walls, and feeling a desire to see the doings of St. 
John's Eve to the end, I went to the water-gate early in the 
evening with the intention of discharging the men, if they 
still remained in attendance. I found myself a prisoner, 
however ; as the gates were locked, and egress was out of the 
question until eleven o'clock, when, as I was informed, they 
would be opened for a few minutes, in order to allow those 
who desired to get off to the shipping, to retire. I was sorry 
to find myself thus situated, only for the men's sake, who, 
in the meanwhile, could find no manner of amusement as 
" outside barbarians." I therefore tried all sorts of persua- 
sion with the man on duty, but in vain. The guard was 
inexorable, and would not open the gate. At my request 
he sent a sergeant for the officer of the guard, and he came 
in the person of a very polite gentleman, of the rank of 
captain, dressed in full uniform. I succeeded no better with 
him, than with his subalterns. The ponderous key was car- 
ried off to the commandant's quarters, and would not be 



VOYAGE THE FIRST 109 



forthcoming until the clock should strike the hour of 
eleven. 

" Very sorry, senor Americano ; but our orders are strict 
and imperative, and there is no help for you until the key is 
restored." 

" But why are you so strict, in time of profound peace ? 
You certainly cannot anticipate danger to your city?" 

" Ah, si senor, you speak truly ; but all our cities are 
guarded in this way in war and in peace ; and we know not 
what a day may bring forth, nor what may turn up suddenly 
in the political world. Cadiz the 6 unconquered' must not be 
surprised." 

" Well, a Dios, senor capitano ; at eleven then ?" 

" Si senor. A Dios !" 

Wending my way back again, I was soon lost in the midst 
of the busy throng, and consoled myself with a hearty draught 
of agua fresca, which a stalwart water-carrier was crying 
at the top of his voice. He unshipped his earthen jug from 
his shoulder, big enough for the lading of an ass, and in the 
middle of the street, lighted by a neighboring bonfire, he 
measured me a full pint of the beverage, which he assured 
me had just come from St. Mary's Well, and he had no 
doubt the holy mother had blessed it long ago, and that the 
blessing still remained upon it. Two coppers, of the size of 
a half cent, paid for my refreshment, and also for the infor- 
mation that Cadiz, per se, had no water, and that resort was 
had to importation from Port St. Mary. Oh, for a hunk of 
our Rockland ice, just now, to cool St. Mary's water withal ! 

On I went, bending my course to the " Place of the Con- 
stitucion," one of the principal squares, or open areas of 

8 



170 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

Cadiz. Here every thing was redolent of fruits, and life, 
and the fumes of tobacco. Surrounded by little stalls and 
temporary tables, you may regale yourself ad libitum for 
sixpence, and you go away deaf with the cries, proceeding 
from a thousand voices out of concert — intermingled with the 
eternal " Antonio-ha !" sent after that ubiquitous young 
scamp in all parts of the city. He must be more immortal 
than our never-dying John Smith. He is every where. My 
guide, also, with the rest, rejoiced in the name of Antonio — 
"Senor Don Antonio." A smart, cunning, witty and faith- 
ful fellow was he, and u up to trap," dressed in the usual 
Spanish jacket, adorned with hollow jingling silver buttons 
and laced all over ; he also wore a red sash securing his white 
pants, yellow Cordovan boots, and truncated steeple hat, half 
sombrero, half gypsey, which has taken the place of the an- 
cient broad brim that one sees in all the robber pictures of 
the old painters. He was a pretty fair sample of Figaro, 
and I told him I had a great mind to change his name, in 
honor of that worthy, of whom he reminded me prodigiously. 
He was evidently a professional man, and acquainted with 
every thing, and every body ; but I was at a loss to rank 
him ; whether as barber, tailor, shoemaker, musician, cook, 
or jack-of-all-trades, waiter, or general guide, which last 
appellation seems to embrace the whole of the others in Spain ; 
and you might wager that he was a little of every thing, and 
good at all. A Spanish factotum is an ingenious nondescript ; 
and a few of them, in our own country, would be invaluable 
as travelling servants — nay, even companions upon long jour- 
neys — ever cheerful, never sad, always ready, and faithful to 
his employer, but doubting all the rest of the world. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



" Amigo Antonio," said I, " what else have you to show 
me before the clock strikes eleven'?" 

" Will you go the churches and hear the music'?" 

"Not now, senor." 

" Will you visit the ladies V 

" I am not in the vein, Antonio." 

" Will you visit the wine-shop, and take a segar ?" 

u Yes, my Antonio, and rest a bit, for I am weary. Lead 



on 



w 



" Vamos." 

And we forthwith "vamosed;" diving down one of the 
principal streets, until we came to a nice looking taverna, 
with colored bottles in the window above, and a red curtain 
drawn across the sash below. All drinking shops have red 
curtains in their windows, in all countries. A fine and very 
beautiful Spanish woman, young in years, and with a lovely 
child in her arms, was standing in the door-way. 

" I will go in here, Antonio." 

" Very well — a snug place, sir, and a good landlady." 

" Call for both of us, Antonio ; and get me a segar, a real 
Habana, if one is to be had." 

Antonio shook his head anent the segar-requisition ; but 
requested the lady of the house to furnish two tumblers of a 
light greenish fluid, from a large jar which was kept filled on 
the counter. I took my seat at a little table, and tasted my 
drink. It was cool and exceedingly palatable, and at once 
became a favorite, from which I did not depart in my pota- 
tions, whenever afterwards I felt thirsty. -It had about the 
strength of our best Newark cider, with a most delightful 
grape flavor. On enquiry as to its quality and manufacture, 



172 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING 

I found it was the first juice or gentlest expression of the 
nearly ripe muscatel grape, without any infusion of the ar- 
dent. For the first time in my life I had drunk the pure 
juice of the grape, the veritable wine of the ancients. It is 
called gras, I think, which the Spaniards give the sound of 
grath ; and, if we had it in America, we might defy other 
intoxicating drinks, and bid farewell, as a nation, to drun- 
kenness : whereas, even in the best article of Spanish wines, 
we get nothing but the second expression of the grape, and 
even that is drugged with a large proportion of brandy or 
alcohol. It will not keep (so they say) but turn to vinegar, 
before reaching our shores, unless baptized in spirit. Pure 
wine with us, therefore, is out of the question. It must be 
taken on the spot where the grape grows, and before many 
days are elapsed after the squeezing of the fruit. Only think 
of three cents a pint for this precious article — the lachrima 
Christi, the veritable wine of the Apostles ! 

Touching my segar ; the landlady absented herself for a 
few moments, and returned with a real Habana. The duties 
are so high on these segars, that I expected to get only the 
rankest and blackest kind, manufactured out of the worst of 
Brazilian tobacco, by Queen Isabella II. ; for the govern- 
ment monopoly in Spain has assumed to itself to be princi- 
pal segar-maker for the multitude. This monopoly drives 
the people to the cheap substitute of the little paper segar, 
or cigarito, which every man makes for himself as he goes 
along the street. Here let me observe that I had not seen a 
single woman smoking, although we are told it is a common 
practice ; nor did it fall to my lot at any time afterwards to 
witness that abomination. Thus have I the satisfaction of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 173 



recording another redeeming quality in the character of the 
Spanish women. — They don't smoke ! 

I praised the flavor of my segar ; and Antonio in account- 
ing for its singular appearance here, simply uttered the 
"words " contrabando, senor /" 

The great Cathedral clock banged the hour of eleven. I 
patted the head of the child of the fair hostess, and rose to 
depart. The first question usually put to you by a Spanish 
woman is, " are you married?" The query put to me was 
nearly the same in substance — whether I had children of my 
own as fair as hers ; and, being answered in the affirmative, 
she ventured to say that she did not see how it could be oth- 
erwise, they having so personable a papa. 

" Gracias, seriora ; may you live a thousand years," said 
I, and kissed my hand at her, and bade her a Bios. She 
nodded gracefully in return, and her manner rather archly 
seemed to say, "you'll do." 

The sally-port in the ponderous water-gate creaked on its 
hinges, and I found myself in outer darkness, relieved only 
by a dim lantern which the guard vouchsafed to carry before 
me to the landing-place. I felt a little queer at the prospect 
of being left outside upon the wharf all night ; and sol de- 
tained the guard a minute, by telling him that if my boat 
was not there I must return with him into the city. A small 
fee secured his acquiescence, and I went about shouting the 
ship's name, " John Smith a-hoy !" — a la " Antonio-ha /" 
but received no answer. Returning along the quay, I saw 
several persons stowing themselves carefully in the stern- 
sheets of a well-manned boat, and one of them, hearing my 
stentorian hail, addressed me. 



174 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

" Vat you vant V said he, standing up in their midst. 

"lam looking for the boat of the American ship John D. 
Smith," said I. " Will you set me on board 1" 

" Sacre ! Zis is not ze boat of ze Jean Ze Smiss," 
answered he rudely ; and turning to the crew he gave the 
word " pousse tV and off he went to a French brig-of-war 
lying within short hail of my vessel. No American would 
ever treat a Frenchman with such rude incivility, thought 
I ; and if ever I catch that French pig in America, the 
"polite nation" will find itself at a discount ! We should 
absolutely treat the man as if he was a Christian. 

I was now left alone ; and was about retracing my steps, 
when, in despair, I concluded to try the virtue of the name 
of " Antonio," and I shouted the war-cry in a voice that 
would have waked the dead at midnight. I did not conjure 
with that name in vain, for it woke up my boatmen, who 
answered the hail from below; and, descending the stone 
steps, I jumped into the boat, which, they told me, had been 
moored there ever since sundown, among a hundred others, 
whose owners were all gone into the city to partake of the 
festivities of the Eve of St. John. 

" We knew your voice, sir," said one of the men, " though 
we have heard nothing else but the name of c Antonio' since 
we came ashore." This was uttered by the boatman in a 
rather thick and impracticable tone, and I stumbled over a 
suspicious looking jug in the stern, which told the story for the 
men and their condition. We " poussed" off in our turn, over- 
took and passed the " polite Frenchman," and in a minute 
afterwards our boat was alongside of the " Smiss." And now, 
a long good night to thee, O, " John Doolittle Smith !" 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

YACHTING TO PORT SAINT MARY. 

The recollections I have of Port St. Mary are all delightful, 
pleasant, dreamy, (it is situated on the ancient Lethe,) joy- 
ous, companionable, sherry -colored, (Duff Gordon keeps his 
great wine cellar there,) et cetera, with only one drawback, 
namely, the occurrence of a bull-fight. With this exception, 
I spent a day there that the world can't cheat me out of ; 
and, as to that exception, I am willing the world should 
possess it in its own way, if it likes, and raze it from my 
memory. For the rest, I won't part with the remembrance 
of it, for it was " a day gained." 

St. John's Day dawned upon me as I touched the landing- 
place at Cadiz, and the sun rose over the broad bay, in the 
same cloudless majesty that had signalized his rising for three 
months past. The little steamers that plied between the city 
and St. Mary's hoisted their flags and streamers which floated 
from every part of their rigging. Foremost, and above all, 
was the elaborate and grand looking banner of Spain ; and 
then followed the tri-color of France, the cross of England, 
and every other national ensign one could well think of, 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTINO. 



except the American ! I walked down to the pier, and gently 
reproached the commanders with their neglect of my country, 
and, with ' no little feeling, pointed out to them the flags of 
other nations which they had hoisted in honor of the day, 
naming them in succession ; and then, with some bitterness, 
I fear, demanded why they had omitted the " star spangled 
banner?" I ascertained that the omission was unintentional. 
The little cockle-shells did not own any of the flags that 
had been hoisted, except their own Spanish ensign. They 
were all borrowed for the occasion ; and the skippers were 
thankful to get any thing, so long as it was a party-colored 
bunting, to decorate their steamers withal. 

" By St. John, whose day we intend celebrating," said I 
to a hearty Yankee captain, whom I found in the act of going 
off to his ship, " this must be amended, for the honor of our 
country !" 

My Yankee friend caught fire in an instant ; and pushing 
off, soon brought back a double supply, and a relay of Ame- 
rican captains to back the flags into the bargain if necessary. 
Directly our flags were hoisted, forward and aft, on board 
each steamer ; and no gayer nor larger banners floated that 
day in the bay of Cadiz. 

We had all previously agreed to " make a day" of it at 
St. Mary's ; and we set about drumming up recruits. Three 
captains and three landsmen, myself among the number, all 
Americans, accompanied by the unfailing Don Antonio, 
formed the party of exploration; and it took but a little 
while, the will being good, to put ourselves in order for the 
voyage. 

Port St. Mary, like our Quarantine village at Staten Island, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 177 



lies about 9 or 10 miles across the bay of Cadiz ; and, from 
first being a watering-place for the supply of shipping and 
the city, it has grown into a town of great beauty and con- 
siderable importance. The streets are wide and planted 
thickly with trees, whose grateful shade contrasts strongly 
with the naked appearance of the streets of the crowded 
cities ; and the ample courts and gardens, filled with shrub- 
bery and fruit trees, give it a value, in a foreigner's eyes at 
least, which makes it the resort of the people of leisure of all 
climes, who come to this part of Spain ; and even the Cadiz 
people are glad to escape from the heat and compression of 
their city, to while away an hour on the banks of the Guada- 
Lete at St. Mary's. Besides, it has come to be the residence 
of the Xeres wine merchants ; and they have now established 
their stupendous vaults here, having deserted the town of 
Xeres, a few miles distant in the interior, for this far more 
convenient place for disposing of and shipping their com- 
modity. Thus the Puerto has been built up between taste 
and utility, and now forms an enviable summer residence. 
It is well built and well paved. The huge roofs of the wine 
cellars, just peeping half a story above ground, while the 
stories beneath are many and labarynthine, like those of great 
brewing establishments, are not the least striking objects that 
meet the sight of the stranger. But the great building of all, 
is the circus for the bull-fights just on the margin of the vil- 
lage; and a town in Spain, without such an appendage, 
would be no town at all, or at most but half a town. Usually 
a place of complete shade and retirement, where one may 
indulge to his heart's content in the dolce far niente, drink 
his sherry of the best vintage, smoke his segar, and cock his 

8* 



178 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

legs up on the balustrade of the balcony of the posada if he 
is an American, or lounge upon five chairs at once if a French- 
man, to-day it presented all the bustle and din of a crowded 
Spanish city, with thousands upon thousands pouring in from 
the neighboring towns, and even from so far as Gibraltar and 
Seville, besides half depopulating Cadiz. The brave little 
steamers, and countless sail-boats of the indescribable but 
picturesque lateen rig, were pouring in their crowded freights 
all the morning. Like us they had come to catch the fresh 
breeze at St. Mary's, and also to see the bull-fight after 
the sun had sufficiently declined to give shade to the 
arena. 

Taking advantage of the cooler part of the morning, our 
party had assembled outside the walls of Cadiz at the ap- 
pointed hour, and shipped on board one of the steamers 
aforesaid. Hundreds of women came also — some attended and 
many without escort — Spanish women, young and handsome, 
middle aged not quite so good looking, and aged women who 
were mothers of the rest. But old and young were all becom- 
ingly attired, with mantilla and bodice and skirt and slipper, 
not forgetting the fan, which is as expressive of nationality 
as any other part of their attire. Not a bonnet, nor parasol, 
nor sun-shade appeared on the crowded decks. Not a 
poodle dog nor child was on board to distract the attention, 
or create anxiety in the bosoms of the fair senoras. 

Sad to relate ! our little steamer soon became loaded down 
beyond her capacity. When her fastenings were cast off, 
not an inch would she move, though she puffed and " blowed," 
and scrambled away for the best part of an half-hour ; and 
the captain and all hands swore good round Spanish oaths in 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 179 



abundance. But she would not move for all that, and it was 
finally conjectured that she was aground. Being seated or 
rather standing, wedged in aft, our party remained unmo- 
lested ; and even if we had volunteered to move, it would 
have been difficult for us to get ashore through the excessive 
crowd. So the people about the gang-way had to vacate 
first, but the women remained, the men only going ashore. 
Presently the boat lighted up and began to move ; but many 
a poor fellow had to remain behind upon the wharf for the 
next trip. It was evident that we were in good luck, for 
we had the senoras and senoritas all to ourselves. They 
laughed, in great glee, at their disconsolate adorables who 
were left on the pier, shook their fans at them by way of 
encouragement, and finally trimmed the boat to an even keel, 
and settled down to a regular and animated conflict of 
tongues for the rest of the short voyage. There was wit 
enough expended that day on board the little 6i Gaditana" 
to last an army of American and English women for a year. 
Some of them, I am loath to say, looked wicked. Heigh, 
s i rs ! — DU t we were lucky dogs to be there that day ! It was 
worth a voyage across the Atlantic to be among these lovely 
women. I can say no more now, but that I have ever since 
kept up a great thinking about the matter, wishing myself 
the Grand Turk or the successor of Mahomet, with the right, 
claimed by a Moorish caliph, of search for and appropriation 
of all the beauty throughout the Spanish dominions. Why 
the deuce don't some Spanish modiste come over to America, 
and dress up our lovely girls like this cargo of divinities 1 
But the dress would be only " a circumstance" without the 
manner and the language. The Italians may say, and with 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



truth, that their language sounds most sweetly in the mouth 
of woman ; — 

l - Lingua Toscana, 
In boca Romana :" 

but the saying is equally true, in regard to the Spanish in 
the mouth of a Cadiz female ; — ■ 

" Lingua Espanola, 
In boca Gaditana." 

Therefore give me the Spanish " girl of Cadiz" to infuse the 
life and soul of the Spanish tongue into me ; though, per- 
haps others may choose to resort to the stately Castilian 
hidalgo to acquire its purity and measured rotundity. 

The Castilian is the standard dialect of Spain. Previous 
to the coming of the Moors, many dialects, growing out of 
the mixture of the Latin and Germanic tongues, prevailed. 
The mixture was called the Romanzo, The several dialects 
finally melted into three — the Galician, Castilian, and Cata- 
lonian. On the marriage of Isabella, queen of Castile, with 
Ferdinand of Aragon, the Castilian RomanzO became the 
language of the court, and has maintained its pre-eminence 
ever since. The Moors, however, not only left their im- 
press upon the land and the people, but upon the language 
also. It may now be called the Arabesque Rornanzo, 
It is certain that it is one of the most simple, sonorous 
and expressive languages in the world, and the Ameri- 
cans would do well, from its general prevalence, to cultivate 
it side by side with the French, if not in preference to it, 
for its great utility in social and mercantile intercourse, both 
in Europe and throughout our entire American Continent. 

I had already observed a point in the appearance of the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 181 



Spanish men which I was unprepared to find, namely the 
absence of moustache and goatee, and greased and matted 
locks, adornments, which the vulgar foreigners who visit our 
shores think it highly necessary for them to adopt, in order 
to obtain notice and distinction. Clean shaven faces, hair 
closely cut, whiskers trimmed, I found as common and pre- 
vailing here as among the Americans. The trait spoke well 
for their habitual cleanliness, and horror of vermin. It was 
also a pleasure to see the Spanish gentlemen dressing, and 
appearing like those of the same class with us ; without pre- 
tension, neat, clean and unobtrusive — leaving to the " boys" 
all the slashed jackets adorned with countless bell-buttons, 
the red sash, the half-steeple hat, the sombrero and the 
swagger. 

The first " human" that met me on Lethe's wharf, the 
landing place at St. Mary's, reminded me prodigiously of 
two things in New-York — Broadway, of a sunny morning, 
and the opera-house. He was a good deal more than sun- 
burnt, and had a decided lick of the tar-brush in his com- 
plexion ; his hair was wiry, matted, and curly as that of a 
bull's pate, and could not have been straitened out even had 
he put it up in pullies over night. His whiskers, mous- 
tache and imperial, were of the same sort, quite enormous, 
peculiar and familar — for I had seen such images before in 
any quantity, cast upon our shores, flotsam et jetsam, strays 
from distant lands, where the sun boils up the blood to the 
consistency of molasses. Beneath his sinister arm he held a 
large roll of placards, and before him, in his other hand, an 
open printed sheet,, the contents whereof he was detailing to 
the public with the most pompous mouthing and gesticula- 



182 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

tion. His thick lips, rendered doubly thick in appearance 
by the crop of coarse wool bristling under his nose, pouted 
out like the muzzle of a hairy baboon ; and the words came 
from him in such deep and agonizing shouts and scientific 
cadenzas, that his engagement, as primo hasso prof undo 
assoluto, would have been certain in any Christian country 
where the Italian opera is affected. I walked up to him, 
took one of his huge cards, and asked him whom I had the 
nonor of addressing. 

" El Sefior Don Carlos Mendoza Espinoza !" said he, 
beginning a recitative a fifth below the note G, sliding grace- 
fully up the chromatic scale until he came to his tonic, and 
diving down again on the last syllable with a cadenza to the 
octave below. 

" How much do you ask for your bill of the play ?" said I, 
imitating him exactly. 

" Nothing, Sen or, nothing, to a brother artist," said he, 
bowing magnificently, and speaking deep down in his bowels. 

I acknowledged myself beaten in the massiveness of his 
" double G," paid him his small fee, and left a group of sedate 
Spaniards smiling at the scene got up between the brother 
artists. Doubtless my swart rival, feeling the force of his 
victory, chanted in good Spanish, as he looked after me tri- 
umphantly, " Am I not a man and a brudder V 

The bill of the play proved to be the programme of the 
bull-fight shortly to come off in the Plaza del Toro. There 
were the matadors, and the picadors, and the banderilleros, 
all named in full, together with a list of the bulls, their 
pedigree and place of nativity, all set down with particular- 
ity ; and great sport was anticipated, from the presence of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 18;$ 



two famous professors in bull-killing, the *one from Seville, 
where he was cock of the walk, and the other from Madrid, 

second only to the famous Don who is accounted the 

first in all Spain, and whose mantle, the public voice said, is 
destined shortly to adorn the shoulders of his younger and 
scarcely less expert rival. So the brave brutes were to be 
killed secundem artem and quickly, I thought ; and the bar- 
barity of this national pastime, this u Spanish Institution," 
would come to an end all the sooner in St. Mary's. I antici- 
pated neither pleasure nor gratification from the sight ;■ but 
he who has not witnessed a bull-fight in Spain, has seen no- 
thing — that is, has not seen Spain as it is. But Spain as 
she is, will not be the same Spain in a few years hereafter, 
if I may judge by the innovations already apparent, both 
political and social ; and my friends must hurry up, if they 
wish to see any of the Gothic remains of this great country 
and most interesting people. 

Every body who writes about Spain gives a description of 
a bull-fight. The pictures are nearly all fac-similes and 
stereotypes. But the picture to-day came before me with a 
few capital and decided improvements and variations ; and 
what I remember of its features I will briefly describe. 



THE BULL-FIGHT AT ST. 



The area of the building, or Plaza del Toro, was immense, 
and furnished with steep seats, like our Castle Garden, and 
capable of accommodating and comfortably seating some 
twelve or fourteen thousand people. The arena, for the 
combatants, was circular, and of vast extent, with here and 



134 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

there strong palisades of a few feet in length, and about two 
feet in advance of the lower tier of seats, behind which the 
matadors and banderilleros could dodge and remain secure, 
when too closely pressed by the attacking animal, until he is 
called off by some other assailant. The barrier, in front of 
the lower range of seats, is about six feet in height ; an ele- 
vation supposed to be quite secure and impossible of invasion 
by the animal. On opposite sides are large openings, serving 
as entrances, on the one side for the animals when let loose^ 
and on the other for the mounted picadors or pike-men. 
When the combatants are marshalled and the bull let in, 
these entrances are closed by strong gates, so that there is no 
escape for the animal or his enemy, until one or the other is 
overthrown ; and certainly no escape for the bull until he is 
hauled out dead. Over or near the entrance on one side, at 
the height of some ten feet, a railed platform is erected, upon 
which the president of the day, (generally the chief magis- 
trate of the city,) and his guests, are accommodated, who are 
quite conspicuous among the mass of people always present. 
The audience has ingress and egress by many entrances from 
the outside of the building, so that if a fire should happen, 
or any other occasion require it^ the entire circus could be 
evacuated in a minute, without the liability of accident. 

The bulls, fine-looking fellows generally, are kept quietly 
in their stalls until sent forth to be slaughtered ; and there 
they remain, seldom exhibiting any vicious propensity, until 
they are loosed, and pricked, and goaded, by which means 
they acquire the necessary ferocity. The doors are flung 
open by an unseen hand, and the animal darts into the arena 
to escape, as it were, from the sharp pangs which he feels 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



from the infliction of small hooks and darts^and other annoy- 
ing contrivances fastened to his neck and body. Finding no 
intermission of pain, however, his fright turns into fury, and 
he boldly attacks the first living object in his way, for revenge. 
Some two or three horsemen, mounted, carrying long spears, 
with strong steel spear -heads, sharp at the point, but calcu- 
lated to perforate the flesh only about an inch, station them- 
selves in convenient places in the circle, ready for the attack, 
with spear shaft firmly fixed about midway under the arm. 
The Alcalde, or presiding officer, gives the signal of attack ; 
the trumpet sounds to the onslaught ; the gate flies open, and 
the bull dashes in, foaming with rage. If the animal refuses 
to attack the picadors or their horses, (the latter he first aims 
at, in the flank generally,) the banderilleros or whippers-in, 
from all parts of the house, or from behind the palisades, to 
the number of a dozen, rush forward, and, at rather a safe 
distance at first, (until the temper of the animal is ascer- 
tained,) shake their red and party-colored flags in his face, 
and provoke him to the encounter. This manoeuvre seldom 
fails to excite the ire of the bull ; and he rushes after them, 
head down and eyes shut, until his horns are brought up by 
the barrier, behind which the man in danger contrives to 
insinuate himself. The animal will then turn away, disap- 
pointed, to wreak his vengeance upon the next object that 
stands in his way ; and if he makes fight against the mounted 
men, or the horses, he is met by a strong and steady thrust 
in his neck or shoulder ; or rather he is suffered to run on to 
the spear-head, which generally turns him in another direction. 
In this way he is badgered and buffeted about, sometimes 
victoriously killing horses and wounding their riders ; and 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



then the call is made for the matador or executioner to be 
forthcoming. 

The banner-men are then directed to call off his attention 
while the horsemen retire ; and then the swordsman or mata- 
dor leaps into the ring, with a naming red cloth in his left 
hand, and takes the remainder of the battle upon his own 
responsibility. If he is steady and skillful, and the bull 
attacks fairly, that is with head down and headlong, the 
weapon is sheathed in the neck and along the spine, and the 
brave toro falls dead on the instant, before being able to 
reach his adversary. The plaudits of the spectators reward 
the victor, and he retires with many bows of thanks ; the 
horseman's gate opens, three richly caparisoned mules enter 
abreast at speed, with their muleteer's bells sharply tinkling, 
wheel round, are fastened to the carcass, and go off at a trot ; 
and the dead bull is consigned to the butcher, who takes off 
his hide, cuts up the carcass, and it is served up to the hun- 
gry multitude in steaks and sirloins before the day is over. 
It is said the poor only partake of the flesh, and that it is 
sold to them at a low price. 

These are about the general features of a Spanish bull- 
fight ; and as the same thing is repeated some half dozen or 
more times in the course of the day, the story may be told in 
pretty much the same words for every combat. But the 
Spanish people do not tire of the repetition, and remain to 
the end, enjoying the scene with a relish that to other nations 
seem unaccountable. " There is no accounting for tastes" 
— " chacq'un a son gout" — musty proverbs, these, but worth 
repeating here. 

We purchased our tickets for the two pistareen, or two 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



franc side of the house, that is to say, the^aristocratic side, 
which happened to be the shady quarter, as I was previously 
advised by Antonio ; and we went early so as to secure eli- 
gible positions. I chose a place where I could see the bull 
as soon as let loose, and have a fair look . at the magnates 
upon the balcony or platform. On my side of the house but 
few persons had yet appeared ; whereas upon the sunny or 
shilling side, (it was now about 3 o'clock, P. M.,) there was a 
perfect jam. Though the seats and elevations were substan- 
tially, nay precisely the same all round the circle, the four 
o'clock post-meridian mark of the sun was railed off to an 
inch, and there was no passing from the sunny to the shady 
quarter. Thus full five thousand people, about one-fourth of 
them well-dressed women, were compelled to be broiled 
for several hours, for lack of pence to purchase a better 
locality. 

I ascertained that both money and employment were very 
rare and not often to be had of late by the great bulk of the 
Spanish people, and that the trivial expense of this spectacle 
was generally carefully hoarded up in the smallest coin, from 
week to week, and even abstracted from the common necessa- 
ries of life for a long time preceding the outlay, in order to 
enjoy the treat. 

These people are called indolent, and that is the reason 
generally assigned for their lack of pence. My observation 
will not warrant me so to state the case. The truth is, they 
are greedy, nay clamorous for employment. In a few 
months all this might be changed, and this people, accus- 
tomed to frugality, could easily be made happy, industrious, 
and even rich, as they are already and at all times patriotic, 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



spirited and yet forbearing. That subtle invention called a 
high tariff — that wasting abomination called monopoly — that 
pestilence, a selfish and griping nobility — these are the over- 
whelming and depressing weights piled upon Spanish char- 
acter. But it is almost in vain for a foreigner to lift up his 
voice for Spain. She will work her own salvation, when the 
time comes : — but I cannot help looking upon the bands, by 
which her spirit is compressed, with the sorrow of a free 
republican, who not only knows how to value, but is in the 
full enjoyment of national and personal freedom. Therefore, 
ye Spanish people, live on, and hope ! Do not let us find 
fault with, nor contemn the mode in which their few enjoy- 
ments or pastimes are carried out or obtained. Live on, 
and God be with you ! May he strike the waters of your 
Red Sea, and guide you, in the face of your enemies, safely 
to the land of promise. Three hundred and fifty years, 
nearly the term of the Hebrew's captivity, even from the 
time of Ferdinand and Isabella, down to the present moment, 
have you been ridden over with hoofs of iron ; and the ene- 
mies in your midst are those that suppose you are born with 
saddles on your backs, and that they came into the world 
" ready booted and spurred, to ride you by the Grace of 
God !» 

The Spanish mode of testifying their impatience at the 
delay of the actors upon any public occasion, is worthy of 
being noted. With us a tumultuous rattle of sticks and um- 
brellas, in places of the upper ten thousand, and ditto, ditto, 
intermingled with cat-calls and whistles and " hi-highs !" 
together with admonitions to " hurry up," in places where 
the " boys" do congregate, are the prevailing persuaders 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



to delinquent managers and actors. In Spain a regular 
drumming prevails, with sticks and heels, the measure being 
kept and intermitted by the whole audience at once, — some- 
what thus — rat, tat-a-tat-tat, tat ! rat, tat-a-tat-tat, tat ! 
and so on, till the manager can no longer resist, and the cur- 
tain rises. It was now nearly or quite 4 o'clock, and the 
audience began to be very much crowded and very fidgetty. 
A few vigorous and measured preludes, played with sticks 
and heels, had the desired effect ; and the armed alguazils 
began to clear the arena. 

I was amused for half an hour previous to these decided 
symptoms breaking out, by several features, of minor impor- 
tance, which characterized the audience. It seemed to be a 
matter of great pride, in the men of all classes, to appear in 
what I may term the bull-costume. No persons, except my 
own party, wore the long-tailed coat. Every other man, 
whatever his degree, sported the short Spanish jacket, appa- 
rently hitched far up the back, giving many the appearance 
of round shoulders ; but there were others who seemed cre- 
ated for the jacket, or the jacket for them. These were all 
profusely ornamented with braid and tassels and silver but- 
tons, the sleeves of some slashed with silk, the apertures 
being gathered and brailed up most curiously ; all wore the 
regular jockey hat, with black round tassels hanging over the 
side ; and a sort of mountaineer's breeches, open at the side, 
jingling with pendants and buttons, giving a glimpse of a 
fair white stocking, well drawn upon the leg, and leggings 
of well-tanned and figured Cordovan leather, swelling lustily 
at the calf, no matter whether there was one of that descrip- 
tion or not beneath it to answer the calf-tournure ; and these 



190 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

were secured by thongs at the side, and suspended or buttoned 
to the bottom of the breeches, and further down covered the 
shoe like a gaiter. Every true sportsman, or every one who 
wished to be considered such, carried a long switch of varn- 
ished hazel, forked at the top ; but of what this was sym- 
bolical, or for what purpose it was intended, I could not 
divine, except as I saw it afterwards applied. 

One little fellow, scarcely five years old, evidently the pet 
of his father and just escaped from the nursery, appeared 
completely dressed in this costume, and carried his switch 
of hazel as well and jauntily as the rest ; but his little pipe- 
stem legs cut but a sorry figure in his ample leggings, which 
were left unclasped, and seemed a world too large, or his 
legs, perhaps, a world too little. His father led him round 
the smooth arena, and had the satisfaction of beholding him 
the observed of all observers. 

This kind of admiration, however, was shared by several 
others, whose ambition to be regarded led them into the 
arena. All the especially -well dressed and tip-top "jackets" 
were to be seen there, strutting about and sunning them- 
selves like peacocks. Two pale or rather sallow looking 
brothers, twins, from Seville, seemed to take the shine from 
the rest, however, by the elaborate richness and gorgeous - 
ness of their apparel. Their splendid jackets beat those of 
the Gaditanos considerably — so much so as to elicit some 
very ill-natured remarks at their expense as they strutted 
up and down, and turned and retraced their steps backward 
and forward, with military precision, in the sight of the mul- 
titude. Their laced cloth cloaks, lined with rich velvet, 
were hanging upon their arms, although the atmosphere 



VOrAGE THE FIRST 



within and without was as hot as blazes, and rendered their 
use totally unnecessary. 

" I'll bet a peso," said a Cadiz-man, " that the upstarts 
havn't eaten anything for a month but beans, in order to 
raise those jackets with what should have been put in their 
bellies !" 

" Caramba," said another, " how they do strut ! Here 
come the alguazils to spoil their fun ! Clear the course, 
there — d'ye hear V 9 

The ground within the circle was cleared directly, and all 
those who had strutted their hour and basked in the light of 
the sun and in the sunshine of the ladies' eyes, were tumbled 
over the lower barrier or forced out of the ring in short 
order. 

A tantarara sounds from the trumpet ; and then the 
Mayor of the town of St. Mary's and sundry co-extensive 
magistrates from Cadiz, with their several suites, all wearing 
cocked hats, take their places, and the sport is about to 
begin. The trumpet again gives forth its breath, and the 
horse-gate opens, and, lo, a dozen fine-looking bulls are 
driven, pell-mell, into the circle. Here they wander about 
for a minute, quite bewildered, and finally cluster together 
in mute' astonishment at the sight of ten thousand spectators, 
who fill the circus from pit to gallery — dome it has none, 
except the clear and unclouded sky, melting into brass, 
almost, by the fervor of the sun. The opposite gate is 
opened, but not a bull moves to go out ! 

" They are a cowardly set of rascals — take my word for 
it," said a knowing Spaniard, cognizant of bull-flesh. " See, 
they are hugging each other in very fear !" 



193 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

A tame bull, (they all seemed tame enough,) is now led in 
by a halter fastened to his horns, and after various efforts to 
induce the others to follow, they finally march off very quietly 
in his wake, to the no small merriment and contempt of every 
true Spaniard present. 

Just then, (it could not have happened in better time to 
divert the evident ill-humor of the audience,) a couple of 
well-dressed men, gentlemen of the upper crust apparently, 
fell to fisticuffs among the ladies in the dress circle, near the 
Mayor's balcony. The row would have been a "knock- 
down-and-drag-out" in less than no time, either in England 
or America, and the parties would have been separated, or 
pitched into the lobby by the police, before there had been 
many passes at each other ; but here, the passage of arms 
was kept up for several minutes, greatly to the delight of my 
American friends, but to the infinite scandal of the sedate 
Spaniards about me. At last, after a deal of vociferation, 
and many " carajos" and "carambas," the parties were 
separated, and their lovely and respective senoras got each 
her separate and distinct senor about the neck, and effectu- 
ally disabled the combatants from further offering to pummel 
each other. The policeman, armed with gun and bayonet, 
(of whom there were dozens in attendance,) stepped up just 
in time to be in at the end of the quarrel. 

The squall did not pass over, however, until the respective 
women had had their own set-to with the tongue ; and such 
an amusing and passionate exhibition of violent gesture, such 
a rolling and whirr of high and piquant words of abuse, with 
which the Spanish language overflows, it would be impossible 
and improper for me to relate. It turned out that the quar- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



rel had originated in jealousy, and all the men and women 
engaged in it were sinners ! After all, the armed police dare 
not interfere, except very gently, in such a matter. The 
Spaniards, to a man, hate an armed soldier to be set over 
them as a conservator of the peace. Sixpence would be all too 
dear for his life, if he lifts his hand against a citizen. He 
would be crushed on the spot, and nobody would know, nor 
could it be ascertained " who struck Billy Patterson." Nev- 
ertheless they yield obedience at once to a civil officer, 
unarmed ; but to the hireling and mercenary soldier, not at 
all. Such is their determined opposition to military rule. 
Yet in despite of this feeling, which pervades every corner 
and every household of Spain, the government persists in 
keeping up a standing army of an hundred thousand men, 
mostly mercenaries from abroad, little, black-looking, narrow 
shouldered pigmies, shaped like a diminutive churn set upon 
drum sticks. These troops are made to answer the triple 
purpose of soldier, police-officer, and custom-house official. 
The officers, only, are your real Spaniards. The native 
Spaniard will not serve in the ranks, unless in case of inva- 
sion ; and then you may see an army of fine looking men 
from the middle classes, prompt, brave, cheerful, energetic, 
abstemious and enduring. But they have had enough of war 
in Spain, and it has no longer any charms for them. In that, 
and in many other important particulars, the nation is in a 
state of transition for the better. If the government were 
not as inert as a mile-stone or grave-yard monument, Spain 
would be kicking up a dust among the old worn out govern- 
ments of Europe, and leading the way in commercial enter- 
prise as of yore. 

9 



194 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



BULL a FYTTE" THE FIRST. 



I was seated, as I have already intimated, where I could 
overlook the place of entrance for the bulls. One had been 
cooped up in a sort of stall behind the gate, in such a man- 
ner that as it opened, finding his retreat cut off, he would 
naturally strike out for the arena, when the gate would be 
closed upon him, and he would then remain in full view of the 
audience, without the power of egress. In this instance, I 
observed, the animal refused to advance, and I perceived 
sundry hands simultaneously projected over the side of the 
stall, which struck several small barbed hooks and darts, 
ornamented with streamers and knots of ribbon, firmly and 
deeply in his flesh. 

The bull instantly felt the severity and anguish of these 
cruel persuaders, and being unwilling to remain where nothing 
but wounds were inflicted, he dashed with a fearful start into 
the ring. 

y A bull, to gain the credit of being of the right sort, and 
also the applauses of the people, must go at his work instan- 
taneously, kill or overturn every thing in his way, master the 
ring entirely, and, when the matador appears, rush fairly 
upon the sword and die without a struggle. In this instance 
the bull would do none of these things, and was voted a bore 
by universal acclamation. He proceeded at once to the 
centre of the ring, where he pawed the earth and roared in 
his agony, until a few more darts were fixed in his flesh by 
the banderilleros, when he seemed to wake up to the reality 
of the scene, and gave rather a reluctant chase to the men 
who thrust their flags provokingly in his face. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 195 



All this time the picadors remained undisturbed in 
their saddles. I was much disappointed when I saw these 
men enter the grand arena upon old, worn-out hacks, 
with eyes bandaged, and ribs and hip-bones almost protru- 
ding from their hides, perfect racks of bones, and with 
scarcely life enough in them to keep them on their legs. 
They would have matched our Dr. Grice's anatomical prepa- 
rations, with very little boiling. If there was any thing 
ridiculous in the sport, I mean that which deserved to be 
laughed at, it was the Quixotic appearance of these men, 
lance in hand, stumbling along upon their starved and 
blind-fold Rosinantes. In place of all this, I had ex- 
pected to see powerful and gallant steeds, trained to the 
business, mounted by men skilled in horsemanship and 
accustomed to the use of the lance, who would give battle, 
and attack and retire as occasion might offer, alike giving 
fair play to the bull and defending themselves and their 
horses by quick and artistic movements, aided by spur, 
mettle, and weapon. The arena was large enough for such 
gladiatorial exercise, at any rate ; and I am not sure that I 
am even now wrong, as to the fact of this being the true and 
ancient mode of conducting the sport. As I found it, how- 
ever, the horse, without being able to see his enemy, could 
do little else than stand still and be gored to death. In this 
there was more cruelty and inhumanity than in the goading 
and killing the bull. My ignorance was the fault, doubtless, 
of my education. My taste never had led me to read the 
story of a bull-fight entirely to the end. My verdancy, in 
regard to the action of the caballeros, was of course enlight 
ened by the modern reality before me. The apology, there- 



196 THE ROMANXE OF YACHTING. 

fore, is that I saw the spectacle for the first time, and the 
impressions got from reading about them were always imper- 
fect, as the subject was never one at all to my liking. 

A dart, with fire-works attached, was finally stuck into 
the flesh of the non-combatant bull, which effectually got up 
his choler, and he made a very spirited dash at one of the 
horsemen, who received him upon his pike and fairly turned 
him off, his horse staggering up, with a loud crash, against 
the side of the boxes, which saved him from toppling over ; 
and he came with a force that must have lacerated the leg 
of the rider had it not been cased in iron. This feat was 
received with demonstrations of applause; and the bull's 
stock of courage and character began to rise in the market. 
For a moment he looked disappointed at his reception, 
kicked up his heels, and bounded over to another horse, took 
him full and suddenly in the flank, overturned both horse 
and rider, and let out the entrails of the horse, so that in a 
few minutes he died where he fell. The rider dismounted 
dexterously as he came to the ground, and remained on his 
feet without injury, the bull at the same moment having his 
attention called off by the banderilleros who came to the 
rescue of the picador. 

The bull refused to attack again ; and after a while 
remained doggedly in the centre of the ring, occasionally 
turning to look at his tormentors as they approached — but 
neither taunt nor insult could change his determination to 
remain on the defensive. 

The people soon grew tired of this, and began to vociferate 
for the matador. The signal was given, and that function- 
ary advanced with his red flag, while all the others retired. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 19T 



He was said to be a most skillful man in his vocation ; but I 
could plainly see that he evinced repugnance at having to 
cope with such a bad subject, and that he expected no honor 
in enacting the mere butcher, and putting an almost passive 
animal to death. The red flag was, however, used freely 
and fearlessly in order to provoke him ; and the bull several 
times made a feint at the matador, but would stop short in 
his career, seemingly acting upon the human principle that 
the better part of valor is discretion. 

The audience could be restrained no longer ; and cries of 
" kill him !" — " kill the coward !" — " take away the beast !" 
arose from all parts of the house. So, to put an end to the 
affair, the matador plunged a sword in his neck at the first 
convenient opportunity, and then a second, and a third — 
but, much to his vexation, he failed each time in hitting the 
vital spot. And there ^ the bull wandered about with three 
swords sticking in his neck, and finally backed, as far as he 
could, into one of the recesses of the palisades, from which 
position nothing could induce him to remove. He was now 
evidently bleeding to death. In this posture the matador 
went quietly up to him, with the fourth sword, mortified and 
annoyed at his ill-success and the butcher-like character he 
was compelled to assume, and despatched the poor beast by 
touching the spot of vitality in the region of the spine. He 
fell dead ; and was cursed and hissed at for a craven by the 
whole multitude, and their execrations continued until the 
mules entered and dragged off the carcase, and also in like 
manner cleared the arena of the carrion horse-flesh. 



198 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



THE SECOND. 

A curly-^pated, fiery, little fellow was next let in. He 
made the circuit of the ring in handsome style, attacking all 
that stood in his way, but was each time successfully foiled 
by the picadors, or eluded by the banderilleros. He was a 
game little fellow, and came to the scratch again courage- 
ously. Nothing daunted him. If he was foiled in one place, 
he would turn to another, and kept the whole arena in the 
most spirited activity for several minutes. His attacks were 
so regular and systematic, or rather so persevering, that 
eventually he succeeded in killing one horse, and letting the 
entrails out of another so that they trailed upon the ground, 
the horse treading upon them as he advanced or receded ! 
Both riders were unhorsed in the shock. This victorious bull 
behaved so bravely, that he received more of my sympathy 
than the men who risked themselves in the encounter; and 
the audience seemed also to be inspired with the same feeling, 
for they applauded him vociferously. It was with difficulty 
that the tormentors could get near enough to crown him with 
the ribbons of martyrdom ; but at length his body was stuck 
all over with ornamented darts. 

The spectators, touched with a sort of generous magnan- 
imity, at witnessing the excessive torments inflicted upon the 
little fellow, called loudly for the matador, with a view of 
ending them speedily. 

Cadiz, I think, furnished the champion for the extirpation 
of the first bull ; and, although worthy of higher honors than 
he received, he was comparatively in disgrace for taking so 
much time, and using so many swords to despatch his victim. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 199 

The reader has seen, probably, that it was not so much his 
fault as the bull's. He wouldn't stand up fairly to be killed. 
Seville now had her turn ; and her favorite matador en- 
tered the ring. He was a little slender man, past the middle 
age, and displayed so much caution, if not fear, that the 
audience cried out " bah /" occasionally, whenever he missed 
his opportunity of a plunge. But at last, the bull — more 
exasperated than ever at not being able to feel his adversary 
with his horns — for he would step nimbly aside at the proper 
moment and let the animal run his career — at last the furious 
creature, forgetting all caution, came full on towards the red 
flag ; and the sword, hid beneath its folds, passed neatly along 
the upper part of the neck and entered the cerebellum, or 
that posterior part of the brain in contact with the spine. 
He staggered, and glared around for a moment; and with a 
mighty heave of the chest, poor curly-pate fell dead, and I 
breathed more freely. I confess to the excitement, and, liko 
hundreds of others, that I was also a partisan of the brave 
little bull. His death was a relief however, for there was no 
other escape for him. The body was dragged off amidst a 
storm of applause ; but there was far more praise given to 
the bull than to the Sevillian. He was not " fighting on his 
own hill," and that makes a great difference with professional 
men generally. At Seville he is considered a killer of bulls 
" according to Gunter," 



The picadors reappeared with fresh horses — old hacks, as 
usual, and blindfold. The arena being cleared, smoothed 
down, and all the actors being ready in their several posi- 



200 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

tions, the trumpet sounded once more, the doors flew open, 
and an enormous and furious fellow sprang forward, seeming 
to gain the centre of the ring at a single bound. Not an 
instant did he stop to consider his mode of warfare, but, with 
a lightning-spring, pitched into the horse of the nearest pica- 
dor, before he could balance himself to meet him with his 
pike, and drove both his horns up to their roots into the flank 
of the horse, killed him dead on the spot, made a pass at the 
picador who had fallen with his leg under the animal, sprang 
away from him as from game not worth attacking, scattered 
or drove from the ring some ten or fifteen banner-men who 
were coming to the rescue of the discomfitted horseman, and, 
sooner than you can tell the story in words, the terrific crea- 
ture killed the second horse by ripping open his belly ; and 
the rider had just time to escape from almost certain death, 
by springing from his horse as he fell, and ensconcing him- 
self behind one of the strong wooden screens, where the bull 
kept him prisoner for some minutes, vainly endeavoring to 
insert his wide-spread horns between the posts to get at his 
adversary. 

In the mean time the first picador had disengaged himself 
from his awkward position beneath the dead horse, and limped 
away to the nearest port of safety, where the iron casing, or 
metal boot that enveloped the crushed leg, was taken off by 
the attendants, and for the remainder of the fight he was evi- 
dently put hors du combat. 

The bull now pranced wildly round the arena, foaming with 
the pain produced by the hooks deeply struck into his flesh ; 
and, for a short time, he had it all his own way, as no one 
dared to leave his hiding-place to confront him. At last, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 201 



from very shame, the banderilleros appeared in all parts of 
the ring, shaking their flags at the bull, but not daring to 
venture more than a few feet from their places of retreat. 
The bull, having exhausted a good deal of his fury upon the 
horses, took up a position in the centre, where he remained 
for some time, amusing himself, if so it may be termed, with 
the fears of his assailants, whom he put to flight almost with- 
out stirring from his tracks, by making skillful feints at the 
living objects as they appeared in sight. He would invaria- 
bly re-assume his central position. It seemed, almost, that 
the noble animal had been drilled and educated to enact his 
part, so perfectly did he keep every thing at bay. His eye 
was every where, and his courage never flagged. 

At last, one man, courting martyrdom, and the applauses 
of his countrymen, appeared in the arena, armed with two 
barbed darts, about eighteen or twenty inches in length, wound 
round with party-colored ribbons and streamers. It is con- 
sidered quite a feat for this functionary to approach the bull, 
to dodge him in full career, and leave these darts sticking in 
his neck as he passes. After long and skillful manoeuvring 
the man succeeded in striking a barb into the neck of the 
bull, but he could not again get a chance to plant the other. 
The critical audience did not relish his failure, and hissed 
him prodigiously ; and for the life of me I could not help 
honoring the courage and tact of the bull, more than the 
qualities exhibited by the men who were trying to goad him. 
Indeed I heartily wished that the rules of the game might 
open some avenue for his escape as conqueror in the fight ; 
or that he might be magnanimously saved for his brave con- 
duct and unshaken self-reliance. But there was no such 

9* 



202 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

thing in the book. The audience did not dream of allowing 
either rescue or capitulation. 

The man with the dart was shamed or provoked into 
another trial, by the vociferation of the people, and his des- 
perate endeavor nearly cost him his life. The banner-men 
all stood on the alert, while he of the barb advanced towards 
the bull. The latter set himself in rapid motion on the 
re-appearance of his tormentor. The attack was so sudden, 
direct and determined, that the man had not time to step 
aside as usual, but stumbled and fell — the bull, with his 
great momentum and closed eyes, passing clean over him ! 
Now was the time for the banderilleros, who, to their infinite 
credit, came running to the rescue, dashing their flags full in 
the face of the bull to call off his attention from their pros- 
trate companion, who, with a bound, jumped up unhurt, 
recovered his barb, and threw himself into a theatrical pos- 
ture, at the same time indicating to the people that he was 
unhurt and " as good as new." He was applauded vocife- 
rously. 

Meantime the animal was busy with the rest, and gave no 
pause to any of them. He compelled all to hide themselves 
again and again, and was within an inch of hooking several 
by their unmentionables, when, as they slid from him succes- 
sively, his horns would bang, with a fierce report, against the 
posts of the safety-bunk. 

An incident of a fearful character now occurred. A ban- 
ner-man, more nimble and skillful than the rest, kept the 
bull in full chase twice round the circuit of the ring, greatly 
to the delight of the spectators ; but at last the animal 
appeared determined to end the sport, and, instead of run- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



ning after his victim at a steady pace, gave two or three sud- 
den leaps and plunges towards him, and was. in the act of 
lowering his head to take him on his horns, when the man, 
with a prodigious spring, jumped over the railing among the 
people, scarcely touching it with his hand ! 

For a moment he was considered safe — but only for a 
moment. To the astonishment of the vast multitude, the 
bull, instead of giving over the chase, was after him in an 
instant ! Six feet of barrier did the noble but infuriated 
animal leap in the clear ; and had it not been for the benches 
which entangled his legs, more than one human being must 
have been sent to his long account, unanointed and unan- 
nealed ! As it happened, most miraculously, not a man of 
that crowded assembly was hurt. A courageous gentleman 
present,* drew a boy from between the horns of the bull, as 
he made a pass at him and struck his huge antlers upon the 
intervening benches, between which the little fellow had been 
standing and was knocked down in the confusion. 

This was a most intensely interesting and fearful sight. 
" The boldest held their breath for a time." But the Span- 
iards appeared to be ready and prepared for such freaks of 

* Don John Antonio Bailly, with whom I afterwards became 
acquainted in Seville, and to whom, as my professional guide in that 
city and its environs, I am greatly indebted for much curious and val- 
uable local and historical information. He is the descendant of that 
aged victim of the French Revolution, in the days of Terror, M. Bailly, 
who on being led to execution, on a morning of intense coldness, was 
observed to shudder as he came forth into the open air. " Thou trem- 
blest, M. Bailley," said the guard. *' Yes, I tremble with the cold ; 
not with fear," was the reply. 



204 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

the bulls. Experience, however, had led them to interpose 
what they supposed an effectual obstacle to the bull's inva- 
sion, by raising the barrier from four and a half or five to 
six feet in height. Such leaps of the bull had often occurred 
with the lower barrier. Now appeared the utility of the 
hazel switches, which I have spoken of as being in the hands 
of most of the sportsmen. Tangled and unable to move, 
except with difficulty, among the benches, the brute was 
belabored unmercifully by the switches, cut without mercy 
over his eyes and ears, tender spots as it appeared; and 
he was finally turned, with his head towards the ring. A 
sudden thrust, from the bayonets of the gens d'armes behind, 
sent him over again into the pit. 

The confusion of the scene soon subsided, and the bull was 
rewarded with the loudest approbation, accompanied by the 
most obstreperous mirth. One old Spaniard, in his enthusi- 
asm, threw his cap into the ring, and standing up made a 
short speech to the public, declaring the bull to be a mag- 
nificent fellow and a true Andalusian; and then, to give 
emphasis to his words, threw two doubloons over after his 
hat, which were followed by a shower of small coin from 
many of the spectators. But whether this was intended as 
a fee to the bull, or a gratuity to the men engaged more 
immediately in the pastime, I could not discover. On such 
occasions, you may as well be prepared for any extrava- 
gance of behavior in a Spaniard ; and, for lack of contrary 
information, I am induced to think it was intended as a 
reward to the bull for his prowess. I had heard of such 
things before ; but, believing it all gammon, I was not pre- 
pared to witness the absurdity. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



The bull, having foiled all his enemies, and no one ventur- 
ing further to annoy him, the trumpet sounded for the attack 
of the matador. It should have sounded a parley ; and the 
brave bull should have been permitted to march out with the 
honors of war. But — " blood, Iago, blood" was the order 
of the day, and the animal was deemed a fit subject for the 
skill of the second matador in Spain, who was present — the 
first being but a shade greater in fame. 

Forth came the Don, sword in hand. He was a neat, well- 
formed man, a little above the medium height, simply and 
elegantly attired, possessing fine, expressive features, and 
apparently as self-possessed as any man would be who was 
just going to eat his dinner. He seemed to know his bull ; 
and, strangely enough, the bull seemed to know the man. 
There was fascination about it. They approached to 
the encounter slowly, looking steadily into each other's eyes. 
They absolutely appeared mentally to measure each other's 
skill and strength, the bull himself exhibiting an intelligence 
almost human. They were now less than ten feet apart, and 
both stopped, as it were, by mutual consent. The matador 
unfolded his red banner with the left hand, grasping his cut- 
and-thrust firmly but gracefully with the right, ready for the 
attack. The bull sprang forward at the red cloth with an 
impetuosity too violent, it appeared, for the use of the weapon, 
and the matador stepped gently aside and let him pass. A 
second and similar encounter was provoked, with the same 
result. The audience saw that he was playing with the bull, 
and applauded him generously. A third trial was made, 
and by a skillful retreat and a side movement, the bull was 
lured, intentionally, to make a circuit, the swordsman alter- 



206 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

nately showing and concealing his red flag, until the animal, 
in his short and sudden turns, became bewildered, and was so 
far mastered in his temper that the matador, after running 
swiftly from him in a direct line, would quickly turn and 
spring towards him, meeting him full in the face. The bull 
stopped short with a sudden a plomb, burying his hoofs in 
the earth, and glanced upon his opponent in irresolution and 
confusion. 

Again the people testified their approbation in an obstrep- 
erous manner, and the women waved their 'kerchiefs and 
fans approvingly. The accomplished matador smiled in 
return, in the full consciousness of his power over the animal. 
It was evident that the poor brute was more than half mas- 
tered already. 

Again the banner-men were let loose upon him, to stir up 
his ire ; and they succeeded, to a charm, in getting his blood 
up to the point of high pressure, and again he raved, and 
tore, and stamped, and chased his tormentors, as in the 
beginning : but his time approached, and, in the midst of a 
furious chase, the matador again challenged him to the 
encounter ; and, in a manner so sudden as to admit of no 
description — the fight was ended. I saw the glitter of the 
sword, and that was all. In an instant, like a flash of light, 
it was sheathed up to the hilt along the neck and spine, and 
the animal fell dead, almost without a struggle. 

There were nine other bulls to be brought forward that 
day, according to the programme — but I had seen enough, 
and more than enough, and began to feel sick about the 
region of the heart. I consulted my companions, and we 
agreed to retire; and while we were elbowing our way 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 207 



through the dense mass, we heard some ill-natured flings at 
the " Yankee-Inglees" for disturbing the closely-packed 
audience upon this deeply interesting occasion. 

Once more in the open air, I shook myself, and stretched 
my cramped limbs, feeling quite happy to be relieved from 
further witnessing this national pastime, which, I was grati- 
fied to learn, (though personally I could not discover the 
fact,) was on the wane in its popularity, especially among 
the women, who are withdrawing their countenance by 
degrees from the brutal sport. 

THE ANCIENT LETHE. 

I now took a turn along the banks of the Guadalete, 
which disembogues into the bay of Cadiz at St. Mary's. As 
I have said, it is the ancient Lethe (corrupted by the common 
Moorish prefix,) to whose waters were ascribed such potent 
narcotic qualities, that one needed but to bathe in it, or to 
drink of its floods, to be steeped or sealed up hermetically in 
forgetfulness. Wonderful river ! I wandered for a while 
on its shores, thinking over its history, and suffering my 
mind to run back through the many ages in which it had been 
almost an actor, at any rate a passive spectator of some of 
the most interesting portions of the history of man. The 
little river before me told a story for Spain, the pages of 
which extend over seven hundred years of her history. 

Indeed, where can you find a spot of ground in Spain that 
is not fall of classic story 1 Wherever it lacks reajity, the 
imagination of the poet has peopled it with celestial beings, 
and covered it with heavenly verdure. The famed Gardens 
of the Hesperides were, by some writers, placed in Spain, 



208 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

and in this part of Andalusia. And why not 1 To a climate 
most serene, it added a vegetation of unparalleled richness, 
covering the country and filling the air with sweets for hun- 
dreds of miles. Some ancient writers have given locality to 
the Hesperides in Africa, near Tangier. Others, again, have 
placed them upon the borders of the Red Sea — " Betwixt 
which Places," (saith old Purchas, an obsolete historian,) " is 
such a World of Distance, it argueth how great Errours great 
Schollars may fall into, by Want of that so much neglected 
Studie of Geographie, without which, Historie, that delecta- 
ble Studie, is sick of a half-dead Palsie." Admirable his- 
torian ! Shakspeare lived about the same time with Purchas, 
and made a similar blunder in his reckoning, (that is, if he 
wrote the play attributed to him containing it,) by wrecking 
some of his sailors upon the "sea-coast of Bohemia," no 
part of which ever touched the sea by at least a hundred 
miles. 

It is worth our while, sometimes, to see how great and 
learned men, (Pope said Shakspeare was so,) do treat their 
subject-matter ; and, therefore, I transcribe the passage re- 
ferred to. It is taken from his "Winter's Tale," and is 
almost the only portion free from obscene allusions. Yet, in 
creating this play, what an imagination and invention he must 
have had — that Swan of Avon ! — Ecce signum : 

" Scene, Bohemia. — A desert country near the sea. — Enter 
Antigonus, with a child ; and a Mariner. 

" Ant>— Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touched upon the 
deserts of Bohemia ? 

" Mar. — Ay, my lord ; and fear we have landed in ill time : the 
skies look grimly, and threaten present blusters. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



"Ant. — Go get aboard ; look to thy bark ; I'll not be long before I 
call upon thee. 

" Mar. — Make your best haste ; and go not too far i' the land : 'tis 
like to be loud weather ; besides this place is famous for the creatures 
of prey that keep upon 't. 

"Enter Shepherd and Clown. 

" Clown. — I have seen two such sights by sea and by land j — but 
I am not to say it is a sea, for it is now the sky j between the firma- 
ment and it, you cannot thrust a bodkin's point. 

" Shep. — Why, boy, how is it % 

" Clown. — I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, 
how it takes to the shore ! but that's not to the point : 0, the most 
piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see 'em, and not to see 
'em : now the ship boring the moon with her mainmast ; and anon 
swallowed with yest and froih, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogs- 
head. — But to make an end of the ship: to see how the sea flap- 
dragoned it : but, first, how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked 
them ; — how the poor gentleman roared, and the bear mocked him, 
both roaring louder than the sea Or weather. The men are not yet 
cold under water." 

Oh, Shakspeare — Immortal bard — Mighty genius — Swan 
of Avon — thou Unapproachable ! Are there no more fish, no 
more krakens in that wondrous sea from which thou wert 
taken 1 Shall there be no more cakes and ale 1 

How prone the English people are to kill off their great 
men ! They first raise them up to the loftiest pinnacle of 
fame, and then, like the eagle with the tortoise, or the mon- 
key which mounts the highest tree with his cocoa-nut, they 
dash their victims " all to pieces" upon the rocks below. 
Thus, also, they play the game of nine-pins with all their great 
statesmen. They set them up, ay, " set them up, my boy !" 



> 



210 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

for the pleasure of knocking them down. And then, again, 
they drink to the full, at the Castalian fount, and the incli- 
nation is irresistible to demolish the vessel that has served 

them : 

" Sweet the pleasure 

After drinking — to break glasses !" 

It is thus they have raised up Shakspeare ; and now they are 
demolishing him, without remorse. 

Was he not, in our own time, the " unapproachable," the 
" undying," the " immortal bard," the u not for a day but 
for all time," the " glorious," the " sweet swan of Avon," 
the " poet of true genius and invention," the " modest," the 
" heaven-born," the " creator," the " poet of all climes," the 
bard who " stole the Promethean fire," the " glass of fashion 
and the mould of form," the " man on whom each god did 
seem to set his seal," in short the " top-sawyer" of all the 
poetical geniuses of all ages ? Ay, all this, and much more. 
But where is he now 1 Alas ! — where 1 How the ghosts of old 
authors would pitch into him, among the Infernals, if Dante 
had to do with him ! 

After " the bard" had been dead for one hundred years 
and utterly forgotten, a player and a writer of the succeed- 
ing century, turning over the old lumber of a theatrical 
" property-room," find bushels of neglected plays, and the 
idea of a" speculation" occurs to them. They dig at haz- 
ard and promiscuously, and disentomb the literary remains 
of many a " Wit" of a former century, educated men, men 
of mind, graduates of universities, yet starving at the door 
of some theatre, while their plays are in the hands of an 
ignorant and scurvy manager, awaiting his awful fiat. They 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



die in poverty, and some of absolute starvation. Still their 
plays, to the amount of hundreds, remain in the hands of the 
manager, and become in some way or other his " property." 
A " factotum" is kept to revise, to strike out, to refit, revamp, 
interpolate, disfigure, to do any thing to please the vulgar 
and vicious taste of the multitude. No play will succeed, 
without it is well peppered with vulgarity and obscenity. 
The " property-room" becomes lumbered to repletion with 
the efforts of genius. It was the fashion of the day for all 
literary men to write for the theatre. There was no other 
way to get their productions before the world. In the process 
of time, the brains of the " factotum," teeming with smut 
and overflowing all the while with prurient obscenity, the 
theatre becomes indicted for a nuisance, or it is sought to be 
" avoided" by the magistrates for its evil and immoral ten- 
dency. The managers are forced to retire ; and one, who 
" owns all the properties," leaves the hundreds of original or 
interpolated plays to the usual fate of garret lumber, some 
with the supposed mark of his " genius" upon them. They 
are useless to him, for he is a player and a manager no longer. 
A hundred years pass, and they and their reputed u owner" 
are forgotten, and so are the poets who wrote and starved 
upon them. Then comes the resurrection — " on speculation." 
Betterton the player, and Rowe the writer, make a selection 
from a promiscuous heap of plays found in a garret, name- 
less as to authorship. " I want a hero !" said Byron, when 
he commenced a certain poem. " I want an author for this 
selection of plays !" said Rowe. " I have it !" said Bet- 
terton ; " call them Shakspeare's !" And Rowe, the " com- 
mentator," commenced to puff them as " the bard's," and 



212 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

to write a history of his hero in which there was scarcely a 
word that had the foundation of truth to rest upon. 

This is about the sum and substance of the manner of set- 
ting up Shakspeare : and the manner of pulling him down, 
may be gathered from the succeeding commentators — not one 
of whom, perhaps, dreamed of such a possibility while he was 
trying to immortalize his idol. But each one, as they suc- 
ceeded one another, thought it necessary to outdo his prede- 
cessor in learning and research, and developed some start- 
ling antiquarian fact, which, by accumulation, worked the 
light of truth out of darkness, until, one after the other, the 
leaves of the chaplet, woven for Shakspeare a the immortal," 
fall, withered, to the ground ; his monument, high as huge 
Olympus, crumbles into dust ; and his apotheosis vanishes 
into thin air. 

Alas, Shakspeare ! Lethe is upon thee ! But if it drown 
thee, it will give up and work the resurrection of better men 
and more worthy. Thou hast had thy century ; they are 
about having theirs. 

" A singular and unaccountable mystery," says Rees, "is 
attached to Shakspeare's private life ; and, by some strange 
fatality, almost every document concerning him has either 
been destroyed or still remains in obscurity. 

" The first published memoir of him was drawn up by 
Nicholas Rowe in 1709, nearly one hundred years after the 
decease of the poet, and the materials for this, were furnished 
by Betterton the player. 

" And it is not a little remarkable, that Jonson seems to 
have maintained a higher place in the estimation of the pub- 
lic in general, than our poet, (Shakspeare,) for more than a 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 213 



century after the death of the latter. Within that period 
Jonson's works are said to have passed through several edi- 
tions, and to have been read with avidity, while Shakspeare's 
were comparatively neglected till the time of Rowe. 

" At the time of his becoming in some degree a public 
character, we naturally expected to find many anecdotes 
recorded of his literary history : but, strange to say, the 
same destitution of authentic incidents marks every stage of 
his life. 

" Even the date at which his first play appeared is 
unknown ; and the greatest uncertainty prevails in respect 
to the chronological order in which the whole series were 
written, exhibited, or published." 

Shakspeare was born on the 23d of April, 1564, and died 
on the 23d of April, 1616. His age was therefore 52 years 
at the time of his death. In 1589 he had been some time, 
it is supposed about four years, in London. In the latter year 
he was one of the 16 shareholders in the " Black-friars " 
Theatre, his name being the 12th on the list. In 1603 
his name appears among others in a license of James I., -to 
perform not merely in London but in any part of the 
kingdom. 

" These actors," says a commentator, " rendered them- 
selves justly obnoxious to the citizens of London by their 
satirical, we might truly say, their licentious representa- 
tions." 

" The wisdom of men and the fidelity of women," were 
openly and wantonly attacked on the stage. 

" A complaint was formally made to the royal council " 
accordingly. 



214 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

Instead of abating the nuisance at once, a petition is 
received from the managers, and entertained by the authori- 
ties having charge of the complaint. Compensation for 
the establishment threatened with demolition, and for its 
" properties," is prayed for with earnestness, and a nego- 
tiation ensues, in the course of which the following facts 
appear. 

In an estimate " for avoiding the play-house in the pre- 
cinct of the Blackfriers," or abating it as a nuisance, the 
following item occurs. 

" Item. W. Shakespeare asketh for the wardrobe and 
properties of the same play-house, 500/., and for his four 
shares the same as his fellowes, Burbidge and Fletcher, viz. 
933/. 6s. 8d.— £1433. 6s. 8d." 

Heminges & Condell had each two shares ; Joseph Tay- 
lor one share and a half; Lowing one share and a half; 
and " Foure more playeres with one-halfe share to eche of 
them :"— Total 20 shares. 

" Moreover the hired men of the companie demaund some 
recompense for their great losse, and the widows and 
orphanes of playeres, who are paide by the sharers, at 
diveres rates and proportions, so as in the whole it will coste 
the Lo. Mayor and the citizens at the least 7000/." 

From this document the material fact is obtained, that 
Shakspeare was the owner of all the "properties" of the 
Theatre, which includes the plays possessed by the establish- 
ment. They must necessarily have been very numerous, as 
will be made manifest by what shortly follows. 

" Of Shakspeare's youth we know nothing," says one com- 
mentator. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 215 



" Of Shakspeare's last years we know absolutely nothing," 
says another. 

" The whole, however," says Alexander Chalmers, com- 
menting upon Rowe, Malone and Steevens' labored attempts 
to follow Shakspeare in his career, " is unsatisfactory. 
Shakspeare in his private character, in his friendships, 
in his amusements, in his closet, in his family, is nowhere 
before us." 

Yet notwithstanding all this mystery, and the absence of 
any positive information, learned and voluminous commenta- 
tors and biographers, in great numbers, have been led to 
suppose and assert a thousand things in regard to Shak- 
speare's history, pursuits and attainments, which cannot be 
substantiated by a particle of proof. Among these is the 
authorship of the plays grouped under his name, which they 
assume as his for a certainty and beyond dispute. This 
egregious folly is beginning to react upon those who have 
been engaged in it, and some of them are placed in a very 
ridiculous position — especially Pope the poet, who, on the 
score of the supposed great learning of Shakspeare, has con- 
tributed not a little to the delusion concerning him. 

A writer in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopoedia undertakes to 
give us the history of his family ; from which I gather that 
John Shakspeare, the father of William, was very poor and 
very illiterate, notwithstanding what the ambitious commen- 
tators may say to the contrary. So says Lardner, and he 
proves it beyond dispute. The coat of arms and the her- 
aldry obtained for the family, afterwards, was procured by 
fraud : and the proceeding is pronounced discreditable to 
8 the bard" who had a hand in it. But the poverty of the 



216 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

family is nothing in this case, except to show that William 
Shakspeare must necessarily have been an uneducated boy. 
He grew up in ignorance and viciousness, and became a 
common poacher — and the latter title, in literary matters, he 
carried to his grave. He was not the mate of the literary 
characters of the day, and no one knew it better than him- 
self. It is a fraud upon the world to thrust his surreptitious 
fame upon us. He had none that was worthy of being trans- 
mitted. The enquiry will be, who were the able literary 
men who wrote the dramas imputed to him ? The plays 
themselves, or rather a small portion of them, will live as 
long as English literature is regarded worth pursuit. The 
authorship of the plays is no otherwise material to us, than as a 
matter of curiosity and to enable us to render exact justice ; 
but they should not be assigned to Shakspeare alone, if 
at all. 

From the Cabinet Cyclopoedia already referred to, con- 
ducted by the Rev. Dr. Lardner, assisted by eminent Lite- 
rary and Scientific men, Vol. 2, London edition, 1837, we 
may gather many particulars concerning this subject, which 
I have condensed below. 

The writer commences by observing that our ancient 
Drama is, indeed, a rich mine ; but the dross outweighs the 
ore in the proportion of at least a thousand to one. A per- 
son may dig long days before he discovers anything worth 
the trouble of picking up. 

Of the stage and dramatic writers immediately preceding 
the appearance of Shakspeare, and cotemporaneously with 
him, the writer observes : — 

The custom indeed of later dramatists — Shakspeare among 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 217 



the rest — was to adopt old pieces as the bases of their labors, 
to add or curtail, to condense or expand, as might seem best 
suited to the time. 

The tragedy of Tancred and Gismund, which was exhib- 
ited (1568) before Elizabeth, at the Inner Temple, was the 
first play in our language founded on an Italian original : — 
a source soon to become fruitful enough. It was taken from 
one of Boccaccio's novels, and was the composition of five 
different persons. 

Another play, The Misfortunes of Arthur, was written 
by Thomas Hughes, and seven other persons, one of whom 
was Lord Bacon. 

The Yorkshire Tragedy some critics have not hesitated to 
ascribe to Shakspeare, and also many others which he prob- 
ably never heard of even by name. Two plays, notoriously 
not his, were published with his name on the title-page in his 
life-time, and no effort appears to have been made on his part 
to set the matter right. 

It is evident that the intellectual activity, so conspicuous 
in the latter half of the sixteenth century, has never been 
surpassed. We (the writer continues) have already alluded 
to fifty-two pieces, of which no vestige now remains, unless 
the substance of them lives in more recent productions : and 
these arose and fell in twelve years, viz. from 1568 to 1580. 

That the later years were not less prolific, may be proved 
by the instances of Anthony Munday, Henry Chettle, Robert 
Greene, Cristopher Marlowe, George Peele, and others, who 
wrote innumerable dramas, though most of them have not 
come down to our days. 

But the most striking illustration of this subject is afforded 

10 



219 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

by the fact that from 1591 to 1597 one hundred and ten new 
pieces were performed, and that from 1597 to 1603, one 
hundred and sixty more were added to the list. This places 
at least 270 manuscript plays in the absolute possession of 
the theatre at the time Shakspeare was one of its managers, 
and the owner of its " properties." 

We have now arrived (says the writer) at Shakspeare 's 
dramatic cotemporaries — men who began to write before he 
did, who not only lived at the same time, but divided with 
him the attention of the play -going world. 

Robert Greene is mentioned, who, at one time, was one of 
the Queen's chaplains, and had taken the Master's degree 
at a University. It was sufficient for the world to know that 
he was a popular writer. 

In a letter which Greene wrote in his last illness, in fact 
on his death-bed, to his boon-companions and brother play- 
writers, or dramatists, as they were called, Marlowe, Lodge, 
and Peele, appears the first authentic information we have 
of Shakspeare's literary thievery. The youthful propensity 
for stealing deer and game, which drove him from Stratford, 
seems to have remained in the bone and ripened into a con- 
firmed habit. 

" To those gentlemen" the letter of the dying Greene 
begins, " his quondam acquaintance, that spend their wit in 
making plays, Robert Greene wisheth a better exercise. 
Wonder not, (for with thee will I first begin,) thou famous 
gracer of tragedies," &c. This allusion is to Marlowe. 
" With thee," continues Greene, " I join young Juvenal, 
(Lodge) that biting satirist, that lastly with me together 
writ a comedy. Might I advise thee," &c. The letter then 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



proceeds, "And thou no less deserving than the other two, 
(Peele) in some things rarer, in nothing inferior, driven (like 
myself) to extreme shifts," &c. — Base minded men, all 
three of you, if by my misery ye be not warned ; for unto 
none of you, like me, sought those burs to cleave — those pup- 
pets, I mean, that speak from our mouths — those antics 
garnished in our colors. Is it not strange that I, to whom 
they all have been beholding, shall be left of them at once 
forsaken 1 Yes, trust them not ; for there is an upstart 
crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger 1 's heart 
wrapt in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bom- 
bast out a blank verse as the best of you ! And, being an 
absolute John Factotum, is, in his own conceit, the only 
Shake-scene in a country. Oh that I might entreat your rare 
wits to be employed in more profitable courses : and let these 
apes imitate your past excellence, and never more acquaint 
them with your admired inventions." 

By the " upstart crow, beautified with our feathers," and 
" he is, in his own conceit, the only Shake-scene in a coun- 
try," a Mr. Tyrwhitt thinks, (and the facts prove it,) Shak- 
speare is meant. 

The commentator then proceeds : " But in what manner, 
the inquisitive reader may enquire, was Shakspeare indebted 
to Greene and his dramatic friends 1 To understand the 
subject more clearly, we must observe, that in the beginning 
of his (Shakspeare's) career, for years indeed, after he became 
connected with the stage, that extraordinary [1] man was 
satisfied with reconstructing the pieces which others had com- 
posed ; he was not the author, but the adapter of them to the 
stage. Indeed, we are of opinion that the number of plays 



220 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

which he thus recast, as well as those in which he made very 
slight alterations, is greater than any of his commentators 
have supposed." 

" The second and third parts of King Henry VI. were, we 
all know, founded on two old pieces, viz., ' The two famous 
Houses of Yorke and Lancaster ;' and ' The true Tragedie of 
Richarde Duke of Yorke.' Hence the allusion of Greene 
has been thought confirmatory of the suspicion that he or 
some of his friends had written one, at least, of these trage- 
dies ; and that Shakspeare, more suo, [and a manner pecu- 
liar to himself it turns out to be,] had adapted them to the 
stage. This may very well have been the case ; and it is 
also probable that Greene may allude to another fable of his, 
which the bard of Avon dramatised. i The Winter's Tale' 
is entirely founded on i Pandosto, or the Triumph of Time,' 
which Greene published in 1588. Sufficient is the fact, that 
the play scrupulously follows the tale, so closely, indeed, as 
to make Bohemia a maritime country, and vessels to reach 
the capital. 

" But this is not all : — Sixteen, at least, of the dramas 
ascribed to Shakspeare, are, beyond all question, derived from 
more ancient pieces !" 

There were also " Six Old Plays," on which Shakspeare 
founded his Measure for Measure — Comedy of Errors — 
Taming the Shrew — King John — King Henry IV.— King 
Henry V. — and King Lear. They were afterwards gath- 
ered into two volumes and published in London in 1779. 

" Marlowe is positively said by Chalmers to have written 
• The true Tragedy of Richard Duke of Yorke,' which 
Shakspeare remodelled and transferred into one of the parts 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 22 i 



of Henry VI. He may also have written, (so says the com- 
mentator,) the History of Henry the Sixth, and The whole 
contention between the two famous Houses Lancaster and 
York. All three were in existence before Shakspeare began 
to write for the stage, and his (Shakspeare's) additions are 
few." 

Thomas Kyd was the author of two plays, one called at 
first Jeronimo, and afterwards The Spanish Tragedy. Some 
additions were made to this play, after the author's death, 
by no less a writer than Ben Jonson. "These additions 
were considered of greater value than the original. The 
fable of the tragedy is not founded in history : it is entirely 
a creation. A resemblance between this play and the Ham- 
let attributed to Shakspeare has been discovered. In both a 
ghost appears to urge revenge on the procrastinating relative ; 
in both there is a play within a play. It shows that Shak- 
speare was not so much a creator as is supposed. He was 
frequently satisfied with improving the conceptions of others." 

Henslowe, as we find in his old Diary, recently dug up 
from obscurity, paid the sum of X s. (probably for refresh- 
ments) to Drayton, Wilson, Munday and Hathaway, the joint 
authors of the play of " Sir John Oldcastle," after its first 
performance. This play was printed as one of Shakspeare's, 
and is the original of all the " Sir John Falstaffs" improperly 
said to be the creations of Shakspeare. 

There were four partners, as it appears, in the above play, 
so pertinaciously claimed for Shakspeare from its " internal 
evidence," upon which those, who have imposed the Shak- 
spearian fraud upon us, always affect to rely. They know 
Shakspeare by instinct ! 



222 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

Drayton, Chettle and Decker wrote the " Famous Wars 
of Henry I." 

Ben Jonson and Decker wrote the "Page of Plymouth,", 
for which the very highest price of that day was given, namely 
eleven pounds. 

These facts I gather from Henslowe : and it appears from 
another authority that Beaumont and Fletcher wrote in con- 
junction, or in partnership ; one furnishing the funds and the 
other the brains. This was the taste of the age. During 
the last thirteen years of Elizabeth's reign, and during all 
that of James I., partnerships of two, three, or four, and 
even five writers, in the same dramatic piece, were more 
common than single labors of the kind. One authority asserts 
that Shakspeare wrote in that way. It is very likely. We 
can easily discover the part he wrote by its filth. By that 
mark you may invariably know where his hand has been at 
work. 

Cartwright, who wrote thirty years after Shakspeare's 
death, is the only early writer who has said any thing of 
Shakspeare's peculiar quality ; that quality for which alone 
he is celebrated, namely, vulgarity and "obscene wit." 
Here is the only true and tangible record of Shakspeare's 
character, as an author, extant, written by one almost his 
cotemporary : 

" Shakspeare, whose best jest lies 
I' the lady's questions and the fool's replies ; 
Whose wit our nicer times would obsceneness call, 
And which made the bawdry pass for comical." 

The whole literary history of Shakspeare is thus written, 
without compression, in four lines. 



VOYAGE THE FOIST. 



George Peele was one of the persons to whom Greene ad- 
dressed his impressive farewell letter. " And thou, no less 
deserving than the other two" (Marlowe and Lodge). He 
took his degree at Oxford in 1577. He is the author of 
" The famous Chronick History of King Edward the First," 
which Shakspeare is supposed to have borrowed " more suo." 
He also wrote " The Old Wive's Tale," from which Milton 
borrowed his u Comus." Nash calls Peele an " Atlas in 
poetry ;" and Thomas Campbell says of him that " we may 
justly cherish the memory of Peele as the oldest genuine dra- 
matic poet of our language." 

Henry Chettle died in 1610. He was concerned in 38 
plays within the short space of seven years. 

Thomas Lodge, who died in 1626, was a voluminous writer. 
He is the "Juvenal" to whom Greene refers in his letter. 
Lodge deserves to be known and remembered from the fact 
that one of his works, " Rosalinde," was pirated by Shak- 
speare, and forms the basis of " As You Like It." It is 
more than likely that it is the same play. 

The facts above stated will serve to illustrate the state of 
the Drama when the commentators suppose Shakspeare to 
have nourished as a writer. There were ample materials, 
certainly, for a person of the very moderate talents he pos- 
sessed, and the pirating propensity he evinced, to luxuriate 
in. They will also account for the circumstance, that puzzles 
all his biographers, namely, that he should have left no record 
of his literary labors. With many of these dramatic cotem- 
poraries around him, I suppose it would have been dangerous 
to claim their labors as his own which afterwards were attri- 
buted to him. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



" The indifference of cotemporaries, and even the genera- 
tions after his death, (observes one commentator,) to the 
'personal history of Shakspeare, has often been matter of 
astonishment. Nobody, indeed, so much as cared for the 
knowledge. Sir William Dugdale, a native of Coventry, 
about twenty miles from Stratford upon Avon, who published 
the antiquities of Warwickshire, thirty years only after the 
poet's death, and who might have seen a score of persons once 
familiar with him, did not trouble himself to make a single 
enquiry on the subject. Fuller was equally careless. Ed- 
ward Phillips, author of Theatrum Poetarum, just conde- 
scends to mention such a man. Langbaine, and Blount, and 
Gildon copy their predecessors. Anthony a Wood, one of 
the most industrious writers England ever produced, who was 
born only fourteen years after Shakspeare's decease, and who 
lived within thirty-six miles of the place where so much 
information might have been obtained, has not a syllable 
about the dramatist, though he found room for many other 
writers who never saw Oxford. Even Shakspeare's family 
might have been consulted. In short there never was a per- 
son of whom more might have been, of whom so little ivas 
collected, until the attempt was vain. W T hence arose this 
indifference ?" 

Had the editor who furnishes the foregoing extract, recurred 
to his own writings, immediately before him, he might easily 
have found the reason for the indifference he complains of. 
He has told us prettily satisfactorily where nearly all the 
Shakspeare (not Shakspeare 7 s) plays came from originally ; 
and it is hardly to be expected that a man who merely adapted 
other people's works to the 'playing stage, like a Theatrical 



VOYAGE THE" FIRST. 225 



Factotum, as Greene calls him, (and he was nothing else,) is 
worthy of any further remembrance than such fact would 
warrant. He has shown us conclusively that he scarcely 
deserves the name of author. But the lame answer of this 
editor, insulting to the intelligence of the age about which he 
writes, is as follows : " The causes of this neglect are obvious. 
The great body of readers are incapable of comprehending 
a master." How would this writer rank Ben Jonson 1 The 
great body of readers comprehended him then, and compre- 
hend him now ; and many, not without good reason, suppose 
that he has no equal as a dramatic poet. But, perhaps, the 
logical point of the above writer consists in a man's being a 
master only in proportion to the difficulty of understanding 
him. It certainly has taken a hundred commentators to 
elucidate Shakspeare, where scarcely one has been needed to 
tell us what the undefiled English of Jonson means. Even 
Milton studied Jonson' s style intently as the most perfect of 
any then existing in the English language. 

The singular and pertinacious endeavors of Pope to work 
out a factitious literary reputation for Shakspeare, by declar- 
ing that he must necessarily have been well versed in classic 
lore, and citing the authors which he must have read to pro- 
duce some of his plays, is thus summarily and conclusively 
disposed of by the writer in Lardner : u All this," he says, 
" shows, what we did not expect to find in Pope, namely, an 
almost entire ignorance of our early literature" — whence, 
in fact, the plays were mostly derived, sometimes without 
alteration or emendation. 

Byron, it appears, regarded the Shakspeare mania as a 
sort of periodical epidemic : 

10* 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTINO. 



" To be, or not to be ! That is the question," 
Says Shakspeare, who, just now, is much in fashion ! 

Byron had not read Plato in the original, or he would have 
substituted that philosopher's name for Shakspeare's, perhaps. 
" To speak the language of Shakspeare," is a common 
expression. That expression, applied to Americans, was 
uttered by our minister in England on the occasion of a pub- 
lic dinner at which he was a guest. The words used were 
that the " Americans speak the language of Shakspeare ;" 
intended, doubtless, to convey the idea that we speak the 
English in its purity. But, under favor, he did us great 
injustice, and heaped upon us an egregious wrong ; for who- 
ever speaks the language which Shakspeare used, speaks in 
the language of the Five Points or of the obscene Fishwomen 
of England. If, however, he had said that Americans speak 
the language of " Rare Ben Jonson," he would have given us 
the idea of perfect purity of style and elegance of diction. 
Ben never descended from the high position of a true poet, 
except, perhaps to utter some invective like the following. 

Hear him, in the most poetical and indignant words, while 
he speaks of the stolen wares of his vulgar cotemporary from 
Stratford : 

I can approve 

The state of poesy, such as it is, 

Blessed, eternal, and most true divine : 

Indeed, if you will look on poesy, 

As she appears in many, poor and lame, 

Patch'd up in remnants and old worn-out rags, 

Half-starv'd for want of her peculiar food, 

Sacred Invention ; then I must confirm 

Both your conceit and censure of her merit : 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 2 27 



But, view her in her glorious ornaments, 

Attired in all the majesty of art, 

Set high in spirit with the precious taste 

Of sweet philosophy ; and, which is most, 

Crown'd with the rich traditions of a soul 

That hates to have her dignity profaned 

With any relish of an earthly thought, . 

0, then, how proud a presence doth she bear ! 

Then she is like herself, fit to be seen 

Of none but grave and consecrated eyes. 

Nor is it any blemish to her fame, 

That such lean, ignorant, and blasted wits, 

Such brainless gulls, should utter their stolen wares 

With such applauses in our vulgar ears ; 

Or that their slubbered lines have current pass 

From the fat judgments of the multitude ; — 

But that this barren and infected age 

Should set no difference twixt these empty spirits 

And a true poet : — than which reverend name 

Nothing can more adorn humanity. 

O, rare Ben Jonson ! Can any one doubt that " Big Ben" 
meant Shakspeare, that smallest of poetasters, in these his 
forcible and manly censures 1 The greatest dramatic poet of 
England, speaking of the meanest and the least ! 

" Of Shakspeare's moral character we know nothing," says 
the commentator, and then shortly informs us that he kept a 
mistress in London. In fact he never went back but twice 
to Stratford to see his wife, (Anne Hathaway, who was eight 
years older than himself,) whom he married when he was 
eighteen. The same writer then asks the following question — 
to which he applies an answer of unquestionable truth : — 

" But is there nothing in the works of this celebrated man 



228 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

to justify the suspicion of immorality % "Whoever has looked 
into the original editions of his dramas, will be disgusted 
with the obscenity of his allusions. They absolutely teem 
with the grossest impurities — more gross by far than can 
be found in any cotemporary dramatist." 

Another writer says, and with equal truth, that Shak- 
speare's obscenity exceeds that of all the dramatists that 
existed before him, and cotemporaneously with him ; and he 
might have included all that ever came after him. This was 
the secret of his success with the play -goers. The plays he 
purchased or obtained surreptitiously, which became his 
" property," and which are now called his, were never set 
upon the stage in their original state. They were first 
spiced with obscenity, blackguardism and impurities, before 
they were produced ; and this business he voluntarily 
assumed, and faithfully did he perform his share of the man- 
agement in that respect. It brought money to the house. 
No wonder the " Lord Mayor and the Citizens" wished to 
a avoid " the play-house in which he was concerned. 

Whalley speaks of Shakspeare's " remarkable modesty." 
But Gifford, the best critic England ever had, observes, " we 
shall be at a loss to discover it." 

" His offensive metaphors and allusions," says Steevens, 
" are undoubtedly more frequent than those of all his prede- 
cessors or cotemporaries." 

His profanity is thus noticed by Gifford — " He is, in truth, 
the Coryphoeus of profanation." 

" All his sonnets are licentious," says another, and quotes 
the libidinous lines to his mistress. 

Many of the plays attributed by the moderns to Shak- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 220 

speare were acted at a rival Theatre, of which Old Henslowe 
was treasurer or proprietor. A most singular discovery of 
facts, tending positively to disprove the authorship of Shak- 
speare to several of the dramas imputed to him, is found in 
Henslowe's Diary. It was discovered but a few years ago, 
(1845,) and is now in possession of the Shakspeare society of 
London, but is the property of Dulwich college. The 
orthography of Henslowe is exceedingly " cramp" — but it is 
sufficient evidence to be brought into court. Its date runs 
from 1591 to 1609. The name of Shakspeare is not men- 
tioned therein, while those of nearly all the writers of mark 
of that day are repeatedly spoken of. I have extracted sev- 
eral passages from it. 

" If Shakspeare," observes the commentator in Lardner, 
"had little of what the world calls learning, he had less of 
invention, so far as regards the fables of his plays. For 
every one of them he was indebted to a preceding piece." 

1. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. — The writer of this 
play is indebted for many of its incidents to two works, the 
Arcadia of Sydney, and the Diana of Montemayor : the 
latter work translated into English during the latter part of 
the 16th century. By some commentators this drama is held 
not to be Shakspeare's. The commentator adds, " we should 
by no means contend that he wrote the whole, or even the 
greater part of this drama. During the earlier years of his 
professional career, he rather improved the inventions of 
others than invented himself. It was easier for him to 
remodel old pieces, than to write new ones. Hence the 
reproach of Greene that he was beautified by the feathers of 
others." 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



2. The Comedy of Errors. — Whoever wrote this play 
was indebted to the Menoechmi of Plautus, which was trans- 
lated into English some years before Shakspeare left Strat- 
ford. Yet whether Shakspeare (if he is the author) was 
immediately indebted to it, or to a Comedy founded upon it, 
entitled the " History of Error," and performed before Queen 
Elizabeth in 1576, is doubtful. It is supposed he did no 
more than slightly retouch the old comedy ; and some com- 
mentators reject the play as being Shakspeare's altogether. 
"He retouched it," says one, " probably at the request of 
the manager !" This commentator has hit the fact exactly, 
not only in regard to this play but to all the others attrib- 
uted to him, except perhaps one, " The Merry Wives of 
Windsor," which is probably Shakspeare's from its obscene 
"internal evidence." In a note at the bottom of the page 
where some of the above facts are stated, the following words 
appear : 

" Six old plays, on which Shakspeare founded his Measure 
for Measure, Comedy of Errors, Taming the Shrew, King 
John, King Henry IV., King Henry V., King Lear." 

3. Love's Labor Lost. — " We read of an old play ofHolo- 
fernes, acted before the Princess Elizabeth as early as 1556 ; 
and on this the comedy before us was based. In fact there 
is no one drama of our author prior to 1600, perhaps not one 
after that year, that was not derived from some other play !" 
" During the earlier years of his dramatic career he did little 
more than alter a piece that had become obsolete." 

4. The Merchant of Venice. — This play was derived 
partly from the Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorentino ; partly 
from the Gesta Romanorum, an old English ballad, and 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 231 



Marlowe's Jew of Malta. In Gosson's School of Abuse, 
published as early as 1579, there is a distinct allusion to a 
play containing the characteristic incidents in this Merchant 
of Venice. 

5. A Midsummer Night's Bream. — The fable of this 
play is not now considered Shakspeare's. Mr. Tyrwhitt sup- 
poses one part of it to be taken from the Pluto and Proserpina 
of Chaucer : but Greene's James the Fourth is doubtless the 
foundation of the play ; and both Chaucer and Greene are 
supposed to have had some common current legend of the 
day from which they derived their materials. 

6. The Taming of the Shrew. — This play is founded 
entirely on an old Comedy of the same name, inserted in the 
published book of the " Six Old Plays," which existed before 
the day of Shakspeare. 

7. Romeo and Juliet. — the story of this play was first 
related by a novelist of Vicenza, as early as 1535. It also 
formed the subject of a novel of Bandello, printed in 1554. 
Bristeau, a French novelist, soon gave it a French form ; 
and Brooke, in 1562, transferred it into English verse. 
Painter, also, in the Palace of Pleasure, took his story of 
Rhomeo and Julietta from the French, and not from the 
Italian novel. The writer of a Shakspeare's" Romeo and 
Juliet followed Brooke, but availed himself of some things 
from Painter. With all this knowledge before one commen- 
tator, who is determined to hear nothing against the 
" genius" of " the bard," he says — u The genius of Shak- 
speare cannot suffer from the fact that he borrowed the foun- 
dation of all his plots. What others left unfinished, he 
perfected : he turned the dross of others into fine gold." I 



232 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

am forced to the opinion that he, or the one who wrote the 
play in question, took the gold itself, " more suo," without 
resort to the process of transmutation by the crucible of his 
u genius." 

8. As You Like It. — This play has no greater originality 
than the preceding. It is taken from a novel of Thomas 
Lodge, entitled Rosalinde. The " crow in borrowed feath- 
ers/ 5 spoken of by Greene, refers to this piracy as well as to 
others. " Shakspeare," says Malone, " has followed Lodge's 
novel more exactly than is his general custom." " Whole 
sentences, besides the plot, are taken from it." 

9. Much Ado about Nothing. — The original is from Ari- 
osto ; but Shakspeare knew nothing of Italian, and it is 
therefore to be presumed that this play is written by some 
other hand. A novel of Belief or est, translated from Ban- 
dello, contains the same story of the play, and in default of 
a reference to these, the Genevra of Tuberville could well 
furnish the material. The story is an old one ; and drama- 
tising a novel, using the materials freely, was as common a 
thing then as now. But who at this day thinks of claiming 
credit, or laying claim to " genius" for such paltry " literary 
fishery 1" 

10. Hamlet. — With the exception of the grave-digger's 
scene, inserted to catch the groundings, which may possibly 
be the production of the " genius of Shakspeare," this play 
owes its paternity elsewhere. The foundation of Hamlet is 
notoriously to be found in Saxo Grammaticus, which Shak- 
speare could not read, notwithstanding Mr. Pope -supposes 
he must have been a great scholar. If he wrote Hamlet, 
Pope was probably near the truth ; and it is upon the sup- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



position that lie wrote all the plays attributed to him, that 
Pope says he must have been conversant with the classics, 
familiar with Plautus, Dares Phrygius, and Plutarch, and 
he might have added Plato. What confiding men biogra- 
phers and historians are, when they have a favorite theory to 
carry out ! In addition to a printed story called The Historie 
of Hamblet then extant, there was a play called Hamlet, 
(acted as early as 1589 ;) and another play of Hamlet was 
also acted at a rival Theatre in London, in the year 1594, at 
which old Henslowe was treasurer. His entry is thus : — 
61 Received at Hamlet VIII s." A poor night's receipts, 
that ! Shakspeare probably got this play afterwards, and 
inserted the grave-digger's scene to render it popular with 
the play-goers. That was his vocation. At any rate the 
soliloquy of "To be or not be," is a literal translation from 
Plato, and judging from that, and the deep philosophy of the 
whole piece, (always excepting the Shakspearian blot upon 
it,) it must have been the creation of an educated man, which 
Shakspeare was not. It is probably a partnership concern. 
The only man of that day, of poetical power sufficient to 
write the higher parts of this tragedy, was Ben. Jonson, the 
greatest Dramatic Poet England ever produced. Langhorne, 
in his preface to Plutarch, referring to the time of Shak- 
speare, says — " The celebrated soliloquy, ' To be or not to 
be,' is taken almost verbatim from that philosopher, (Plato) ; 
yet we have never found that Plato was translated in those 
times." 

11. The Merry Wives of Windsor. — If any play of the 
whole catalogue is Shakspeare's, this comes nearest the mark. 
The impress of his vulgar and impure mind is upon every 



234 THF. ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

page. Tradition asserts that it was composed at the 
express command of Queen Elizabeth, who " wished to see 
Falstaff in love." It is probably, like all the other traditions 
relating to the " genius" of Shakspeare, without foundation, 
except in the brain of his admiring commentators. But he 
has no originality even in this revolting piece of trash. The 
author was indebted to a translation of Pecorino, and to 
Tarleton's News out of Purgatory, for his plot and incidents ; 
and his Sir John Falstaff is the Sir John Oldcastle of Dray- 
ton, Wilson, Munday and Hathaway. 

12. Troilus and Cressida. — Whoever wrote this play 
took the plot and materials from the Italian, and from 
Chaucer, and from Lydgate's Boke of Troye. The author- 
ship is settled by an entry in Henslowe's Diary on the 7th of 
April, 1599, in these words ; " Lent unto Thomas Downton, 
to lende unto Mr. Dickers and harey cheatell^ in earneste of 
their boocke called Troyeles and Creassedaye, the some of 
iij ffc" 

13. Measure for Measure. — Founded on and taken from 
Whetstone's play of Promos and Cassandra, one of the " Six 
Old Plays" already referred to. 

14. Othello. — Was derived entirely from the Italian of 
one of Cinthio's novels : but as Shakspeare knew nothing of 
Italian, even the translation could not be his, independent of 
the structure of the play. A French translation appeared 
in 1584 ; but of the French Shakspeare was as ignorant as 
of the Italian. 

15. King Lear. — The story of Lear is drawn from 
Geoffrey of "Monmouth ; but the play is one of the " Six Old 
Plays," to which something was contributed by way of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



amendment, perhaps, from the Arcadia, and the Mirror of 
Magistrates. Henslowe had the play at his Theatre, as is 
evident from an entry in his book : " 8th of April, 1594, 
received at King leare XXVI s." It is therefore not 
Shakspeare's — for he had no interest in the rival play- 
house, and Henslowe must have owned the play as. his 
" property." 

16. AIVs well that ends well. — May be found in Boccaccio. 
In Painter's Palace of Pleasure the story is called Giletta of 
Narbon. This play may have been among the u properties" 
of the Theatre to which Shakspeare was attached, upon the 
suppression of that dramatic nuisance, by the Lord " Mayor 
and citizens." The only wonder is that Bettertonand Rowe, 
in getting up their " Shakspeare speculation," did not give 
us a second series of a like number of plays while they were 
about it, and call them new discoveries. Who does not 
remember the " Shakspeare forgeries," of Ireland, which 
deceived the very elect ! 

17. Macbeth. — The incidents of the story, founded on 
Scottish history, are all in Hector Boece ; " but of Hector," 
observes one critic, " Shakspeare knew as much as he did of 
Hesiod." Could he read Hesiod, think you? The writer 
of the play probably consulted Hollinshed for a guide. 
Buchanan thought the subject a fit one for the stage, and 
some of the " wits" of the day took his hint and produced it. 
Part of this play, is borrowed from Middleton's production 
entitled The Witch. So says Steevens, or rather he says 
the " bard of Avon" was not the originator. 

18. Twelfth Night. — Derived remotely from the Italian 
of Bandello and more immediately from Belleforest : and 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



partly from The Historie of Appolonius and Silla, a tale in 
the collection of Barnaby Riche. 

19. Julius Cesar. — From Plutarch, inaccessible to Shak- 
speare's "genius." He could not read it in the original, 
nor in the French translation of it by Amiot. The Earl of 
Stirling had already written a tragedy of that title. The 
Julius Cesar attributed to Shakspeare is undoubtedly the 
following, as noticed by old Henslowe, the theatrical trea- 
surer : " 22d of May, 1602. Lent unto the Companye to 
geve unto Antoney Monday and Mikell Drayton, Webester, 
Mydelton, and the Rest, in earneste of a Boocke called sesers 
Falle, the some of V li." It is possible that Shakspeare' s 
managers purchased this play, and set it upon their stage. 

20. Antony and Cleopatra. — The foundation of this play 
is derived from the same sources as Julius Cesar — namely, 
the classic historians. There were two tragedies in being 
when the above was produced ; one called Antony, by Lady 
Pembroke, and the other Cleopatra, by Daniel. Both Dan- 
iel and her ladyship were indebted to a translation of Gar- 
nier, whose tragedy had great celebrity. The writer of 
Antony and Cleopatra, is greatly indebted to all three of the 
above-named authors. 

21. Cymbeline. — This play is derived from three sources, 
a novel of Boccaccio, an English tale called Westward for 
Smelts, and Geoffrey's British Chronicle. The common remark 
of the commentators, when a poor thing turns up, which is 
said to be Shakspeare's, is a sereotype phrase. Here is one : 
" Cymbeline is a poor drama, and perhaps one that Shaks- 
peare did not compose, but merely improved !" Very likely. 

22. Timon of Athens. — The commentator says this play 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 237 



is of the " same stamp" as the foregoing. " It was certainly 
indebted to a former tragedy of the name, never printed, but 
well known in MS. The incidents are taken from Painter's 
Palace of Pleasure, and Plutarch." 

23. Coriolanus. — This play is also derived from Plutarch. 
It is therefore none of Shakspeare's — not because it was 
derived from Plutarch, but because it must have been written 
by some writer of classic mind and education, who could look 
into the original. It is as far beyond Shakspeare's powers 
as Hamlet. Shakspeare was a vulgar and unlettered man — 
or his commentators and biographers belie him in their facts. 
What they suppose, is another thing. 

24. The Winter's Tale. — The paternity of this play be- 
longs to Robert Greene ; the obscenity to Shakspeare. The 
commentator, seeing that the play is unworthy of a passing 
thought, except unmitigated contempt, says " it is unworthy 
of Shakspeare's genius." He is wrong there, it smells of his 
" genius" all over. " The substance of it," he continues, 
" must have appeared in some earlier drama." 

25. The Tempest. — Founded on an Italian novel ; and on 
Robert Greene's Alphonsus. The commentator says " there 
is more invention in this piece than in any other that Shak- 
speare has left us." Doubtless — but Shakspeare was no 
inventor, nor did he write this piece, though he may have had 
it among his " properties." 

26. King John. — Founded on a former play of that name, 
and, in fact, written by Rowley. If it was ever the " prop- 
erty" of Shakspeare, he paid the usual fee for it, to wit " from 
5 to 10/." It is founded on one of the " Six Old Plays" of 
that name. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



27. Richard II. — There was a play of this title, which is 
referred to by Camden, long prior to the time of Shakspeare. 
The commentator gives this play up also, thus : " probably 
Shakspeare did no more than alter the one already in posses- 
sion of the stage. This supposition is confirmed by internal 
evidence. It is decidedly inferior to some of his other his- 
torical plays ; and the manner seems to be different." As 
to "manner," all of the series may be said to differ from 
each other ; they were all written by different hands. 

28. Henry IV. — " The two parts of Henry IV. were cer- 
tainly founded on preceding dramas : the old play of The 
famous Victories of King Henry V., which appeared in 1519, 
furnished our author with many of his characters and inci- 
dents ; and secondly, the play of Sir John Oldcastle." Thus 
much for the confession of the critic. Fuller says, " Stage 
poets have been very bold with, and others very sorry at the 
memory of Sir John Oldcastle, whom they have fancied a 
boon companion, a jovial royster, and a coward to boot. The 
best is, Sir John Falstaff has relieved the memory of Sir John 
Oldcastle, and of late is substituted buffoon in his place." 
The play of Sir John Oldcastle, referred to before, was 
printed and claimed as one of Shakspeare's, with as much 
pertinacity as the rest ; but was withdrawn and given up to 
the owners, Drayton and company, notwithstanding the " in- 
ternal evidence of Shakspeare's genius" with which it was 
thought to be imbued. Let Falstaff change his name to 
Oldcastle, and he is no longer Shakspeare's. Oh, those 
" Six Old Plays ! " " Sir John Oldcastle" ceased to receive 
encomium, as soon as it ceased to be claimed for Shakspeare. 

29. King Henry V. — Founded, by universal concession, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST 



on preceding dramas with the same title. Nash refers to one 
as early as 1592, well known on the stage, which had been 
represented prior to 1588. In 1594 was another — " probably 
the same." Several others appeared afterwards. In the 
" Six Old Plays " there is a drama with the same title, " pro- 
bably the one to which Nash alluded." Henslowe records 
having " received at hary the F.," several sums of consider- 
able amount, on its representation at his theatre. That fact 
alone is quite sufficient to show that it was none of Shak- 
speare's. 

30. King Henry VI. — " The three parts of King Henry 
VI. were assuredly not the work of Shakspeare, though he 
retouched all of them, except, perhaps the first," so says his 
commentator. They were founded on the old dramas of the 
" First part of the Contention of the two Houses of Yorke 
and Lancaster ;" and the " True Tragedy of Richard Duke 
of York, and the Death of good King Henry the Sixth." 
The former of these old dramas was printed in 1594, and the 
latter in 1595, but both were represented long before. To 
Greene, Peele and Marlowe, their authorship is attributed. 

. Hence Greene's expression, on his dying bed, already referred 
to, in his letter to Marlowe, Lodge and Peele, of " upstart 
crow beautified with our feathers," and a parodied quotation 
from the First Part of the Contention of the two Houses, 
" tiger's heart, wrapt in a player's hide ! " Shakspeare had 
used their plays probably without paying for them, u more 
suo," and they still form part of Shakspeare's list of plays ; 
at least his editors still print them as such. 

31. King Richard III. — This great drama, one that has 
kept the stage longest and with the greatest popularity, seems 



240 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

to be given up without a struggle, notwithstanding the " in- 
ternal evidence." " Here," the commentator says, " Shak- 
speare had also prior dramas before him. Some of them are 
enumerated in the last edition of Malone by Boswell : and a 
mutilated copy of one, which our dramatist had certainly in 
view, is printed in the 19th volume of that laborious work." 
Henslowe has this entry in his diary : " Lent unto ben j amy 
Johnsone,in earneste of a Boocke called Richard crookbake, 
and for new adicyons for Jeronyme, the some of X li." 
It should be remembered, however, that the playing copy of 
Richard, now used, is greatly altered from the original. All 
the most striking and beautiful passages are the work of 
modern hands. Garrick first undertook to remodel it, and 
several professional hands have since been at work at it. 
Indeed this is the case with all the " Shakspeare" acting 
dramas. The originals, with their obsolete and obscene de- 
fects and blemishes, would not be tolerated for a moment upon 
the present English or American stage. The authors that 
wrote them originally, could not, by any possibility, recognise 
them in the present text. 

32. King Henry VIII. — It has heretofore been believed, 
upon pretty good grounds, that Rowley was author of this 
play, or at least furnished the foundation and material for its 
construction. The title of his drama is The Famous Chro- 
nicle History of King Henry the Eighth. Rowley was 
cotemporary with Shakspeare. But, recently, a partnership 
with Rowley in its authorship has been discovered. Hens- 
lowe's Diary has the following entry : " 5th June, 1601. 
Lent unto Samwell Rowlye to pay unto harye Chettell, for 
writtinge the Boocke of Carnall Wolseye lyfe, the some of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



XX s." The inference is irresistible that Shakspeare is as 
innocent of the production of this play, as of those which are 
more plumply denied because they are " unworthy of his 
genius." It is idle to speculate in the face of such positive 
testimony. He was the mere " factotum" of a theatre — a 
copyist for the prompter — and an arranger of the parts with 
the cues copied out for the actors : a very responsible and 
laborious station, certainly — but it does not make an author, 
nor give him any title to the authorship of the pieces he sets 
upon the stage. 

33. Pericles, — The " bard's" chronicler says that " Peri- 
cles is certainly not the offspring of Shakspeare's genius. 
No ingenuity can show that there is the least affinity between 
the mind which produced it and that of our author. It 
would disgrace even the third rate dramatist of Shakspeare's 
age." This is no proof one way or the other. But the 
denial of his chronicler would seem to establish the fact, if 
assertion goes for any thing, that it was absolutely Shak- 
speare's, except that Shakspeare does not come up to the 
level of a third rate dramatist of any age. When his 
admirer asserts that a play belongs absolutely to Shakspeare, 
he finds himself negatived by positive proof : and it is fair 
to presume if there is the usual " internal evidence" of 
blackguardism in Pericles, it is Shakspeare's, or at least that 
part, which is thus marked, is his. 

34. Titus Andronicus. — The same remarks precisely, 
both of chronicler and underwriter, as above given, apply 
here. This play, however, like that of Pericles, continues 
to be presented as Shakspeare's, and is claimed for Shak- 
speare. The following entries, however, in the books of the 

11 



242 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

rival Theatre, or rather in old Henslowe's diary, settle the 
question as to its not being Shakspeare's. " 1594" at several 
dates, " received at titus and ondronicus, SI. Ss. ; — 21. ; — 
XII s. ; — 7s." The audiences must have been slim in those 
days! 

Verily that " speculation" of Rowe and Betterton has been 
the cause of mighty contention among the learned commenta- 
tors of this age. How much good Christian ink has been 
spent in writing up a worthless subject, I mean Shakspeare 
in person, and how much scholarship and research have been 
exhausted to furnish the means of sending him to " quod /" 

The question put into the mouth of Lady Betty's waiting- 
maid in High Life below Stairs, " Who wrote Shakspeare 1" 
was laughed at, as a good theatrical joke, some years ago ; 
but, when it is now asked, there is " not so much laughing 
as formerly." And the theatrical pleasantry of playing one 
of Shakspeare's plays without speaking a word from Shak- 
speare, was actually carried out by John Kemble, who, in 
setting Hamlet upon the stage, left out the grave-digger's 
scene, as unworthy of the play ; and thus the play was played, 
and well played too, doubtless, without a word being uttered 
from Shakspeare — for that scene is all that is his. 

Upon the same principle that the Shakspeare series of 
plays selected by Rowe and Betterton are called Shakspeare's, 
might we call the rare old tracts and papers of the Harleian 
Miscellany, the Earl of Oxford's, because they were found 
in his library, and some of them copied in his hand-writing. 
If they had been buried a century or two, he certainly would 
have been their author with the commentators of the calibre 
of those, generally, who have written upon Shakspeare. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



About a century hence, when our old Metropolitan Theatre 
of the Park shall be turned into a brewery of beer, or a huge 
manufactory of some future Solomon's Balm of Gilead, or 
some life-preserving Panacea of an unborn Swaim, those who 
come after us may find its " properties" barrelled up and 
stowed away in some lumber garret. Then will some " spec- 
ulating Rowe and Better ton" gloat over the tons of plays 
and operas that have been acted in our day, and the chi- 
rography of our industrious and respectable Mr. Peter 
Richings will be recognised, in perhaps an hundred plays 
prepared by him for the prompter ; and perhaps the music 
of a score of operas copied in his own hand-writing, will be 
found as well. Then will the forgotten play-writers of our 
day have a resurrection, and Mr. Richings an uncoveted 
immortality. Mozart and Rossini, too, sunk perhaps in the 
night of the intervening age, will come forth anew, and the 
hand-writing of that useful attache of the Park, will be 
enquired about, and identified after long and indefatigable 
research. The operas and the manuscript plays will be his 
by the same token, and that " internal evidence," (the hand- 
writing,) will be the proof by which to test the identity 
and authorship of all those cotemporary productions. Rich- 
ings ! — Your fate is posthumous fame, by this process — and 
even little Oliffe, the keeper of the " property room" and 
player of all the big-soldier parts, will have a glorious run 
for immortality ! 

RODERICK, THE LAST KING OF THE GOTHS. 

A few miles further towards the source of the Lethe, upon 
the plain without the walls of the ancient city of Xeres, the 



S44 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

last battle was fought between the Moors and the Spanish 
people, which terminated in favor of the Saracen race, and 
ended the Gothic dynasty in Spain. 

The Moors, on that occasion, were commanded by Tarif, 
an able general of the Caliph Valid who dwelt at Damascus, 
then the capital of the Saracen empire. The troops of Spain, 
of whom full an hundred thousand men were brought into the 
field, were commanded in person by their king, the descend- 
ant of the great Alaric, the ill-starred but gallant Roderick. 

Spain, which has never yet had a monarch of her own 
Iberian blood, had been overrun first by the Phenicians, next 
by the Carthaginians, then the Romans, and last by the 
Western or Visi-Goths. And now, a vast Saracenic, or 
Arab host had invaded her soil, seeking to displace the 
Goths, as they, in their turn, had supplanted the Romans. 

It is not my purpose here to trace the fortunes of any of 
these nations, once inhabiting and claiming dominion in 
Spain. I must leave many of those interesting historical 
details to a future opportunity. I shall only, at present, 
because I am on the spot, refer to so much as I deem neces- 
sary, to show why the Moors were here, and the Gothic mon- 
archy in its extremity. 

The story of the renegade Count Julian, (who owed alle- 
giance to Roderick,) embracing his agency in bringing over 
the Moors from Africa, is familiar to most readers ; and, 
although it has had many phases, it is, in its leading fea- 
tures, too well authenticated to be treated as mere romance. 
A great difference of opinion exists, however, as to the truth 
of the popular legend connected with the name of Count 
Julian's daughter, whom chroniclers and poets call alike by 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 245 

_ 

the name of Cava, and Florinda. The tale, in modern times, 
is generally told to the discredit of Roderick the king ; but, 
almost uniformly, by the ancient Spanish writers, to the dis- 
paragement of Cava and her father. 

Without venturing an opinion now, as to the truth or 
falsity of either assumption, I merely give the substance of 
the historical details leading to this great and decisive 
battle, following closely upon the invasion of Spain by the 
Moors. 

It is averred by some writers, that King Roderick, having 
evil designs against the virtue of the accomplished and beau- 
tiful daughter of Count Julian, his prime-minister, sent him 
abroad into Africa, (much after the manner of David in 
regard to Uriah, and for a similar reason,) upon a mission to 
Muza, the Generalissimo of the Caliph Valid, then encamped 
with a large Arab host in and about the region between Ceuta 
and Tangier. It is alleged, also, that during the absence of 
Julian, Roderick committed that base act upon the person of 
Cava, which is considered irreparable, and for which no 
atonement can be made. The enormity is looked upon as the 
greater, if true, inasmuch as Cava had been confided to his 
hospitality and guardianship, during the absence of her 
father, and was then employed as one of the attendant maids 
of honor to Egilona, the wife and queen of Roderick. 

The ancient Barrett thus shortly tells the story, in what, 
we are bound to believe, was considered poetry by the 
English in his day. It is quite Shakspearian. The world 
has somewhat improved in letters since that time. 
In Ulit's [Valid's] time there regalized in Spain 
One Roderick, king from Gothians race't ; 



846 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

Into -whose secret hart with silent strain 

Instretch'd the 'sturber of hart pudice chast, 

Him enamoring of a piece, 

A piece by nature quaintly symmetrized, 

Enfa) r red with beauty as Helen fair of Greece ; 

Count Julian's daughter of bed wedlockized, 

Ycleaped Caba ; who in court surshined 

The rest, as Hesperus the dimmed stars. 

This piece the king in his Love's closet shrined, 

Survicting her by wile, gold, gems, or forced jars. 

Even old Barrett has his doubts, it appears, as to the method 
used to accomplish his object. Be that as it may, Cava it is 
said, contrived some sure method to inform her father of the 
outrage. By one writer, she is represented as having sent 
the information, couched under the allegory of a beautiful 
summer pippin, upon which the king's dagger fell and 
wrought a grievous injury. By another, whose invention is 
an improvement upon the allegory, she is said to have indited 
the following capital letter, which would do honor to the pen 
of a licentiate. If written at all, it is likely to have been a 
joint production, in which her uncle, the Archbishop Orpas, 
participated. Of this ambitious dignitary we shall hear more 
by-and-by. But to the letter — 

" Would it had pleased the Almighty, my dearest father, 
that the ground had opened and swallowed me up, rather 
than that I had ever lived to see myself reduced to this 
wretched necessity of writing, to give you the knowledge of a 
disgrace which will cause an eternal disquiet in your bosom. 
The innumerable tears which have blotted, and almost effaced 
this whole letter, will let you understand the violence I do 
myself in writing you such unwelcome news. But I appre- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 247 



hend that if I should defer it one single moment, I might 
leave room to doubt whether, at the time when my body was 
defiled, my soul was not likewise stained with an indelible 
blemish. Who can ever put an end to our misfortunes, 
except you repair the insult which has been done us 1 Shall 
we stay till time makes public what is, at present, a secret 1 — 
when we shall be cursed with an opprobious name, more 
insulting than death itself? Oh ! wretched and most deplo- 
rable destiny ! In a word, my dear father, your daughter, 
your blood, this branch of the royal stock, who, like an inno- 
cent lamb, was recommended to the care of a ravenous wolf, 
has been violated by king Roderick. If you forget not what 
.you owe to your illustrious blood, you will revenge the affront 
offered it, by destroying the tyrant who has so basely stained 
it. Remember that you are Count Julian, and that I am 
Cava, your only daughter." 

The style of this letter, it will be perceived, does not 
belong to antiquity, but smacks of being written within the 
last hundred years. No historian of older date has given it. 
It is, therefore, probably, a poetical invention. 

Certain it is, however, that Count Julian, breathing 
revenge, or nourishing schemes of high ambition, but sup- 
pressing any outward display of his feelings, returned to 
Spain, and bided his time to strike some signal blow against 
his obnoxious sovereign. He took his measures warily, and, 
in public, acted as though nothing had happened during his 
absence to give him umbrage ; but in his heart he is supposed 
to have nourished that dreadful hatred, that undying thirst 
to execute retributive vengeance, which most fathers would 
feel, the pride of whose house had been humiliated by 



343 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

another, beyond redemption or forgiveness. If we may 
judge by the terrible scope of Julian's retribution, the words 
of Othello, are not too strong for the secret musings of Count 
Julian. 

O, that the slave had forty thousand lives ; 

One is too poor, too weak for my revenge ! 

Now do I see 'tis true. — Look here, Iago ; 

All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven : — 

'Tis gone. — — 

Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell ! 

Yield up, love, thy crown and hearted throne, 

To tyrannous hate ! swell bosom with thy fraught, 

For 'tis of aspicks' tongues. 

Like to the Pontic sea, 

Whose icy current and compulsive course 

Ne'er feel retiring ebb, but keep due on 

To the Propontic and the Hellespont ; 

Even so my bloody thoughts, with silent pace, 

Shall ne'er look back, 

Till that a capable and wide revenge 

Swallows them up. 

The country of the Moors, Mauritania Tingitania, as it 
was called, embracing the north-western part of Africa, 
bordered by the Mediterranean, had been long subject to the 
Gothic kings of Spain, but had then recently been overrun 
by the Saracens, gathered from various parts of Africa and 
Asia, in the course of that victorious march of the Moham- 
medans, who, in the immediate century succeeding the death 
of their prophet, carried all before them, and imposed the 
Koran, (with the alternative of the sword or tribute,) upon 
the conquered nations. They had now reached the famed 
Herculean Strait ; had possessed themselves of Tangier, and 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 249 



were surrounding the fortress of Ceuta, on the land side, 
which was all that remained to the Goths of their once exten- 
sive possessions in Africa. All the rest had been subdued 
by the Saracen. The white tents of the Moorish host, com- 
manded by Muza, with Tarif for his lieutenant, covered the 
plains and hills from Cape Spartel to Ceuta, a distance of 
many miles. 

It may be supposed that that wild race, numerous as the 
locusts which yearly crop the herbage of Northern Africa, 
consisting of many tribes, always thirsting for plunder, 
looked with longing and greedy eyes upon the fertile Para- 
dise of Spain just opposite. It was a land, too, filled with 
the black-eyed houris of their religious dreams. The imme- 
diate prospect of the richest spoils, and the promptings of 
unrestrained sensuality urged them on. It was but to cross 
over, and the land, with all its wealth and beauty, was 
theirs. Indeed, their leader was already making active 
preparation for a descent upon the unguarded coast of Anda- 
lusia. 

It was at this critical juncture, that Count Julian was 
commissioned by his sovereign, to open negotiations with the 
Emir Muza — the paramount object being to stop that gene- 
ral in his career of invasion, if possible, or at least so to 
delay him that the forces of Roderick could be assembled, at 
proper points, to oppose his further progress. Upon the 
return of Count Julian to Spain, he gave a most favorable 
and flattering account of the success of his mission ; and the 
world is left to judge of the motive, with which he urged and 
persuaded Roderick to countermand his orders for assembling 
his troops, and also to disband his levies, and lay up his 

11* 



250 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

armament of transports. In a short time afterwards, and 
without exciting suspicion, he obtained permission to with- 
draw his family from the court, under pretence of paying a 
visit to his relatives in a distant part of Spain. Hastening 
to the port of Malaga, he gathered about him many retain- 
ers, and, setting sail, passed over into Africa, where he still 
found the Emir Muza lying encamped with his Moors. 

The next we hear of Julian is his invasion of Spain, in 
company with the general, Tarif, and a mingled host of Sar- 
acens and renegade Spaniards. They took possession of the 
Rock, hitherto known as Calpe, one of the celebrated pillars 
of Hercules, thenceforth to be known by the name of Gib-al- 
Tarif, (the Mountain of Tarif,) since corrupted to " Gibral- 
tar." The forces were spread around the bay, from 
Gibraltar to Heraclea, now Tarifa, embracing in their cir- 
cuit the ancient city of Carteia, at the bottom of the bay, (a 
city founded by Hercules, the great Tyrian navigator,) from 
whose ruins they subsequently built the city of Gibraltar, 
and also Algesiras, not far distant, and situated on the same 
bay opposite Gibraltar. 

This first invasion of Spain by the Moors, took place 
A. D. Til, and in the 91st of the Hejira or the Mohamme- 
dan Era. The term "barbarian" is often misapplied in 
ancient history, especially by the Greeks and Romans who 
thus generally stigmatized their invaders from the North ; 
and when they so called the Goths, they applied it to a peo- 
ple at least as civilized as themselves, and always having 
better notions of liberty. 

That the Moors, or the motley tribes of Saracens who 
invaded Spain, were barbarians in the proper sense of the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



word, there can be no doubt. They were savages, but one 
degree advanced above the rudest form of humanity. As 
such, the mind of the modern is unprepared to witness or 
acknowledge that subsequent, and almost sudden elevation 
to which they attained, in the arts, science, agriculture and 
government. Poets, musicians, mathematicians, astrono- 
mers, historians, ingenious mechanicians, learned doctors in 
the healing art, the most elegant manufacturers of their 
period, all became numerous among the Moors, and some of 
them attained a character which would adorn any age of the 
world. 

If they were a savage and benighted race when they in- 
vaded Spain, and thus surprisingly and suddenly assumed and 
practised the arts and professions of civilized life, it is no less 
wonderful how, with an equal suddenness, their glory 
departed from them when they ceased to reign in that country, 
and passed over again into Africa. It seems as if the mind 
of man is doomed to the curse of a perpetual sterility on that 
vast peninsula, the land of the Negro and the Moor, to be 
and remain as unproductive and unyielding as its arid deserts. 
The thick darkness of midnight still hovers over it, though 
separated only by a narrow sea from the intelligence *of 
modern Europe. 

As for the Moors, with scarcely a single virtue to redeem 
them originally, except the brute courage of their nature, 
wild and untamed, submitting to no restraint save in the 
order of battle, their coming and subsequent history may 
best be compared to a volcano, that has had its period of 
eruption and fierce activity, its desolation, its fearful and illu- 
minating fires ; and, burning itself out, also its sudden 



90t THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



extinction and subsidence into cavernous darkness. We 
hear no more of them, either as a civilized or as a learned 
people, after their return to Africa. 

Theodomir, governor of Andalusia, thus describes the 
invaders, and invokes the presence of Roderick : 

" A horde of Africans," said he, " have just landed on 
our coasts, so strange in appearance that one might take 
them as much for inhabitants of the sky as of the earth. 
They suddenly assailed me. I disputed as well as I could 
their entrance into the country ; but their numbers and impe- 
tuosity have prevailed. In spite of my efforts they are now 
encamped on our soil. Send me more troops without a 
moment's delay : collect all that can bear arms. So urgent 
is the occasion, that I consider even your own presence 
necessary." 

Roderick, astounded at the news of the invasion, hastened 
to give the Moorish forces battle. He despatched a numer- 
ous body of cavalry to the scene of action 5 and the Moors 
were so alarmed at the large and imposing army of the 
Goths, that they were about retracing their steps, when Tarif 
arrested their inglorious flight by setting fire to his trans- 
ports, and thus left his followers no retreat. 

" God is great !" exclaimed the Mussulmen as they looked 
upon their burning ships ; and forthwith resigned themselves 
to their destiny. The alternative of fighting, or being driven 
into the sea, was easily decided in the minds of the bar- 
barians, and they turned, with their accustomed fury, upon 
the army of Roderick. Although superior in numerical 
force, and much better equipped than the Moors, yet the 
generals of Roderick were beaten back and defeated by them 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 25S 



in every encounter. The Moors came to the attack like 
tigers ; while the Spaniards, who had long given themselves 
up to the enervating influences which were of late encouraged 
under the Gothic rule, found themselves unable to cope with 
their more determined enemy. 

Perhaps, also, the fortunes of Roderick may have been 
controlled by a wide-spread defection, heretefore secretly 
encouraged, which now began to manifest itself. It arose 
from the jealousy which the immediate descendants of the old 
Romans entertained towards the Goths, who had despoiled 
the fair inheritance transmitted to their ancestors by the 
great Cesar himself, whose best troops, indeed the best and 
bravest troops of all the great Roman victors, were always 
drawn from Spain. Julian, it is alleged, was of the Roman 
descent, and of the Julian family to which Cesar himself 
belonged ; and he used the argument of the Roman lineage, 
skillfully and effectually, with the discontented of the same 
ancestral race. They were even taught to believe that the 
dominion of the Moors would be less oppressive and more 
acceptable than the rule of the Gothic usurpers. " The 
natives of Spain," says de Barros, " never bore much love 
to the Goths, who were strangers and comelings, and, when 
they came, had no right there, for the whole belonged to the 
Roman Empire." 

Tarif was every where successful, by reason of this defec- 
tion, as much as by the force of his arms. Troops of 
Moorish cavalry, guided by Count Julian, scoured all the 
southwestern part of Andalusia, and fell upon the unpro- 
tected towns, which they reduced and despoiled with fearful 
rapidity. So obstinate, however, was the defence, and so fre- 



234 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

quent the conflict of large masses of troops on both sides, 
that in the course of the two years, succeeding the landing of 
Tarif and Julian in Spain, it was computed that not less than 
seven hundred thousand men perished in battle. 

Verily the cost of Roderick's kingly indulgence, if it was 
the moving cause, was the blood of many myriads of people, 
and the retribution of Julian was terrible, and fast being 
swallowed up in a wide revenge ! Cava, too, if she was 
spectatress or even cognisant of the extent of this carnage 
meted out to her unoffending countrymen, must have been 
somewhat appeased, if aught could compensate for the viola- 
tion of her honor. Her name, at least, has received an 
unenviable notoriety, if not immortality, from her disgrace 
and her instrumentality in the fall of her country, which 
otherwise would have never crept into history. Among the 
causes of such miserable wars, and the downfall of nations 
and estates, the Portuguese poet, Andre da Sylva Mascaren- 
has, in his Destruicam de Espanha, enumerates the principal 
females who have been most instrumental, or distinguished in 
history in this respect — beginning with Eve, and continuing 
with the names of Helen, Cleopatra, Semiramis, and Cava, 
and ending with Anna Boleyn, who was the innocent cause 
of losing England to the spiritual dominion of the Pope. 

Por mulheres porem se tern perdido 

Muitos reynos da outra e destd. vida ; 
Por Eva se perdeo o Ceo sobido, 

Por Helena a Asia esclarecida ; 
Por Cleopatra o Egypto foi vencido, 

Assiria por Semiramis perdida, 
Por Cava se perdeo a forte Espanha, 

E por Anna Bolena a Gram Bretanha. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



By means of women have been lost 

Many Kingdoms in the other and in this life ; 
By Eve high Heaven was lost, 

By Helen renowned Asia ; 
By Cleopatra was Egypt overcome, 

Assyria lost by Semiramis, 
By Cava was lost mighty Spain, 

And Great Britain by Anna Boleyn. 

On the banks of the Lethe, to which, defeated in every 
encounter with the Moors, he had been driven, step by step, 
Roderick made his last stand. In the third year of the 
invasion, (A. D. 714,) vast masses of Spanish warriors of 
the Gothic raoe were gathered on the hills around Xeres, 
and on the plain before it. The host of the Moors was not 
as large as that of Roderick ; for the latter brought an 
hundred thousand men into the field. The use of fire-arms 
had not then been discovered ; and the opposing forces met 
hand-to-hand, with sword and lance, and mace and archery ; 
and it is observable, in all such close encounters, that the 
carnage has always been greater, than afterwards, when the 
contest was decided by artillery and the smallar species of 
fire-arms. 

The mode of this comparatively modern warfare, modern 
as to time certainly, had not essentially changed from that 
of the ancients who lived 13 centuries before, in the time of 
Jeremiah the prophet. Indeed, considering the combatants, 
the similarity of the encounter and the likeness of the wea- 
pons used, are remarkable in more respects than one. The 
Egyptians, and all the lands teeming with the swart races, 
were again astir and in arms. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



" Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to 
battle. 

" Harness the horses ; and get up ye horsemen, and stand 
forth with your helmets ; furbish the spear and put on the 
brigandines. 

" Who is it that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are 
moved as the rivers 1 

" Egypt riseth up as a flood, and his waters are moved 
like the rivers ; and he saith, i" will go up and will cover the 
earth ; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. 

" Come up, ye horses ; and let the mighty men come 
forth ; the Ethiopians and the Lybyans, that handle the 
shield ; and the Lydians that handle and bend the bow. 
And the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made 
drunk with their blood." 

In all their marches and conquests, the Mohammedans 
remembered, and were inspired by the words of their prophet, 
who had promised them, that all lands inhabited either by 
Christian or Jew, should fall under their dominion. The 
Jew had yielded in every quarter, and become tributary. 
The Christian was now fast fulfilling the prophecy. 

In the great and final struggle between Spain and the 
fanatic followers of the prophet, Roderick came upon the 
field of battle, as was the custom of the Gothic kings in war, 
borne aloft in a magnificent car, the splendors of which are 
almost passing belief, and exceed in detail, and as a whole, 
all the Oriental pomp and circumstance of similar chariots, 
used by the ancients in their warfare. Two venerable chron- 
iclers thus minutely describe the trappings of the king and 
the grandeur of this more than regal car. 



VOYAGE TJIE FIRST. 



The first informs us that " Roclerike, the first daye of the 
battayle, observing the auncient guise of his countrey, came 
into the fielde apparailled in a gowne of beaten golde, having 
also on his head a crowne of golde, and golden shoes, and all 
his other apparaile set with rich pearles, and precious stones, 
ryding in a horse-litter of ivorie, drawn by two goodlie 
horses ; which order the Goths used always in battayles, for 
this consideration, that the souldiours, well-knowing their 
king could not escape away by flight from them, should be 
assured that there was none other way but either to die 
togither in that place, or else to winne the victorie ; for it 
had been a thing most shamefull and reproachfull to forsake 
their prince and annoynted soveraigne." 

And the chronicle of the second historian is like unto the 
former : — " The king seeing that calamaties went on increas- 
ing, and that the destruction of the Goths was at hand, 
thought that if things were to end as they had begun, it 
would be a marvel if there should be in Spain any king, or 
.lord or lineage of the Goths, after his death ; and therefore 
it imported much that he should leave behind him a remem- 
brance of the custom of the Gothic kings, and of the manner 
in which they were wont to enter into battle, and how they 
went to war. And, he adds, that the king used to go in a 
car made after a strange fashion. The wheels of this car 
were made of ivory, and the axletree was of fine silver, and the 
perch was of fine gold. It was drawn by two horses, who were 
of great size, and gentle ; and upon the car there was pitched a 
tent, so large that it covered the whole car, and it was of fine 
cloth of gold, upon which were wrought all the great feats in 
arms which had been achieved until that time ; and the pillar 



253 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING 

of the tent was of gold, and many stones of great value were set 
on it, which sent forth such splendor that by night there was no 
need of any other light therein. And the car and the horses 
bore the same adornments as the king, and these were full of 
pearls, the largest which could be found. And in the mid- 
dle of the car there was a seat placed against the pillar of 
the tent ; and this seat was of great price, insomuch that the 
value of it cannot be summed up, so many and so great were 
the stones that were set in it ; and it was wrought so subtly, 
and of such rare workmanship that they who saw it marvelled 
thereat. And upon this seat the king was seated, being 
lifted up so high that all in the host, little or great, might 
behold him. And in this manner it was appointed that the 
king should go to war. And round about the car there were 
to go a thousand knights, who had all been knighted by the 
hand of the king, all armed ; and in the day of battle they 
were to be round about the car ; and all plighted homage to 
the king not to depart from it in any manner whatsoever, and 
that they would rather receive their death there than go 
from their place beside the car. And the king had his own 
crown upon his head. And in this guise all the kings of the 
Goths, who had been lords of Spain, were to go to battle." 

And thus went forth the Gothic King Roderick to his last 
battle against the Paynim. The banner of the Cross was 
thrown to the wind by the Spaniards ; and the Saracen cres- 
cent, on the ensigns of an hundred tribes, came also upon 
the field. The prayers and petitions of the Christian army, 
before going into battle, were solemn and affecting. The 
equally subdued but fervent invocation, " Ellah, ylah, 
ylallah ! Mohammed rasul Elah ! — There is no God but 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Alah, and Mohammed is the Prophet of God !" strengthened 
the arm of the Moslem, and the shout of " Alah-el-Alah IP 
excited his fiery spirit in the contest. Often, also, in the 
midst of the fierce conflict, while the war-cry on one side 
was " R^flerick the Goth !" the slogan was shouted forth on 
the other, " Julian, the Count Julian and revenge !" 

The battle had lasted nearly seven days, from the dawn of 
day to the going down of the sun, with nearly equal success 
on both sides. Already sixteen thousand of Roderick's 
bravest troops lay dead on the field, and as many more of 
the enemy had perished on the spot. Victory, at length, 
seemed to incline to the standard of the Goth, and the forces 
of the Moors began to waver and give way. At this critical 
juncture Tarif rode in among the flying masses, and 
reminded them bitterly that flight would avail them nothing, 
that their ships were all destroyed, and that their retreat 
was thus effectually cut off. Calling to them passionately to 
follow him, he plunged boldly among the squadrons of the 
Goths, and with his scimetar cut his way before him. In- 
spired by the example of their fearless chief, the Moors 
quickly recovered from their panic ; and the onslaught upon 
the Christians was so vigorous and terrific, that not only 
was every lost position recovered, but the Goths, in their 
turn, began to feel its effects and to recoil before it. Thus 
the fortune of the day was changing fast in favor of the 
Moor. 

Roderick, seeing the battle turning against him, and his 
troops wavering and giving way under the fierce charge of 
the Moors, descended from his car, from whose elevation he 
had watched the progress of the battle in which nearly two 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



hundred thousand men had been engaged, rank to rank and 
man to man. Hastily mounting his favorite war-steed, 
richly housed and caparisoned, as was the fashion of the day, 
Roderick unsheathed his sword, and calling loudly to his 
thousand loyal knights, who surrounded his car, tg support 
him, rushed into the thickest of the fight. The force of his 
example was felt along the whole line ; and, wherever he 
appeared, ranks went down before him and sunk beneath the 
strokes of his powerful arm. A sythe could not more effect- 
ually have mowed down the field grain, than did his sword, 
wielded right and left, as he rode at speed, cut down the 
turbaned Moors, who quailed, and shrunk, and fell in 
his path. 

" Roderick the Goth !" sounded from rank to rank, and 
was shouted from every mouth. His brave knights, men 
chosen, (as Napoleon afterwards as wisely chose his mar- 
shals,) for their strength and courage and prowess, and not 
from the mere blood that they inherited, constantly gathered 
round him in the battle. Every man of that well-appointed 
train of a thousand knights, felt and behaved in the presence 
of their gallant and fearless monarch, as if the issue of the 
contest rested on his single arm alone. Of the turbaned 
heads of the unbelievers, which bit the dust that day, under 
the vigor of their courageous charge, thousands might have 
been numbered on the field. Nor did either army pause in 
its work of death and extirpation, till the night closed in upon 
them, and compelled them temporarily to retire within their 
own lines. 

In the mean time the work of traitorous defection had been 
going on in the ranks of Roderick, which were thinned daily 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 261 



by desertion, and the deserters were sent to the rear of the 
host of Tarif, where they were organized by Julian as a 
reserve. Orpas, Archbishop of Seville, one of the highest 
Church dignitaries of the realm, and the relative of Count 
Julian, commanded a large body of troops in the army of 
Roderick. The sister of Orpas was the wife of Julian and 
the mother of Cava, and Orpas himself was nearly related to 
the monarch whom Roderick had deposed. The Archbishop, 
covering designs of his own, had held his division aloof, and 
had suffered them to engage the enemy only so far as to pre- 
vent a suspicion that he was traitorously inclined towards the 
king. Roderick now sent him a command, that, on the mor- 
row, his troops must be brought into action with vigor and 
determination, and assigned him his post in the order of bat- 
tle. To his other chiefs he sent similar commands, and gave 
them to understand that, no longer condemning himself to 
the comparative inaction of overlooking the battle from his 
car, he would himself lead the van and the attack. 

A report was industriously circulated among the Christian 
troops, that the enmity of the Moors was not intended to 
affect the Spaniards of Roman descent, but would be exer- 
cised only against the Goths. This was doubtless part of the 
policy of Count Julian, and it was not without its effect. 

An old Spanish writer observes, " The Moors did not say 
that they came against the Christians, but against the Goths 
who had usurped Spain:" and he adds, "You are not to 
think that Count Don Julian and the Bishop Don Orpas 
came of the lineage of the Goths, but of the lineage of the 
Cesars ; and therefore they were not grieved that the good 
lineage [of the Goths] should be destroyed." 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING 



Most of the Spanish writers speak in favor of the Gothic 
race, as preferable to that of the Roman, or other descent. 
Both the Gothic and Roman Spaniards now professed the 
Catholic faith ; but the Goths, long esteemed a proud and 
barbaric race, fond of war and conquest, were by the Romans 
for some time considered heretical, and given to the creed of 
the Arians. This may account, in part, for the alleged hos- 
tility of the two races, which was openly kept up for a long 
time ; and other prejudices, slumbering, but not extinct, such 
as the dislike of the Goths to mingle in social relationship 
with the Roman descendants, and perhaps the equal preju- 
dice working reciprocally the other way, may suffice to show 
the grounds of enmity still existing between the two races, 
although, by the enactment of a Gothic law, the partition of 
intermarriage had long been broken down, and the Arian 
faith abandoned. However all this may be, the Spanish 
writers generally mourn over the fate of Roderick and the 
Gothic race, and execrate the name of Julian as a traitor to 
his country and a renegade. I find also that the memory of 
Cava and her ambitious mother, receives no respectful con- 
sideration from these Spanish historians, some of whom do 
not hesitate to brand the whole proceeding of the Julian 
family as a palpable intrigue, involving the mother of Cava 
as the principal intriguante ; while others declare the story 
of Roderick's amour false in every particular. The popular 
voice of a later day, fond of scandal and unmerciful to dis- 
covered sin, has prevailed against Roderick, and erected the 
beautiful Cava into a goddess of idolatry. Another historical 
circumstance, which speaks in corroboration of the envious 
hostility of the Roman against the Goth, and also showing 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



that the cause of enmity lay deeper than the alleged private 
wrong of Count Julian, was the fact that the Moors spared 
the " Christians," as they were called, that is the Roman 
Catholics ; and that the principal part of the Spaniards 
killed, in this entire war of invasion, were Goths in origin. 
That the Moors should make this distinction, can only be 
attributable to a stipulation of Julian, made with them before 
entering upon the war. 

The eighth day of the battle came. It was the last, and 
decided the fate of Spain. It was the Sabbath-day. 

The first gray light of the morning had scarcely dawned, 
when both armies were marshalled in array of battle, and in 
motion ; and before the sun had fairly risen over the hills of 
Xeres, the opposing hosts had closed upon each other in 
dreadful strife. Spear and scimetar, sword and battle-axe, 
were wielded hand to hand, and horse to horse, in one rude 
melee, whilst the bows of the infantry twanged, and the 
arrows sped from side to side. The groans and screams of 
the dying and the wounded, rose fearfully over the din of 
arms and the shock of squadrons. 

Moor, and Copt, and Persian, Arab and swarthy African, 
Syrian, Tartar^ and traitorous renegade fought side by side, 
and intermingled with the remnant of the Goth and the 
Iberian, clutching and striking at each other with remorseless 
fury. The antiquated lines of Barrett, (doubtless, with 
Chaucer, one of the "fathers of English poetry,") serve, 
with a slight liberty with the text, to give some idea of the 
field of battle. 

The forlorn Christian troops Moon'd troops encharge, 
The Moon'd troops requite them with the like ; 



364 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

And whilst the Moorish scimetar unlimbs 

The Christian Knight, doth Christian curtle-axe 

Unhead the Moorish horseman ; — 

And whilst the Saracen, with furious rush, 

The Christian shocks, the Christian as round 

Down shouldereth the Saracen ; whilst Gothic blade 

Sends soul of Moslem to the starred cell, 

The Moslem pike, with like employed trade, 

Packs Gothic spirit posting down to Hell ! 

Alas, for Roderick and for Spain ! The hour to consum- 
mate the traitorous defection of Orpas had come. 

Early in the day the word was given to Orpas, to charge 
upon the Moors. Forthwith his entire division left the line 
and marched briskly towards the enemy. What must have 
been the astonishment and indignation of Roderick, to see the 
host of Saracens give way, open to the right and left as if by 
preconcerted signal, and close again upon the troops of Orpas, 
without the interchange of a single blow ! Thus thousands 
of that army of Roderick, on whom he had relied to do battle 
this day, passed over to the enemy, following the example of 
the traitorous churchman, who had lost no opportunity to 
exert a poisonous and mysterious influence over the minds of 
his people. He had succeeded in convincing them that it 
was obedience to the voice of God, thus to abandon the Goth 
to his fate. In proportion as these misguided troops, forming 
an entire wing of the army, diminished the forces of Roderick, 
they added a two-fold strength to the Moorish host. And 
while this additional power was transferred to the Moors, 
whose fatalism of itself gave them courage and opened the 
gates of Paradise to them in death, the religious zeal of the 
apostates was acted upon and fired by their priesthood, to a 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 065 



degree scarcely less elevated than that of the Mohammedans. 
They were taught to believe they were battling against latent 
heresy ; and the promise of eternal life was vouchsafed to 
them with the absolution for the treason. 

Deeply and sorrowfully did the gallant Roderick feel the 
sting of this untoward desertion ; and indignant and resentful 
were the thoughts of the faithful followers of the king thereat. 
The loyal Goths, strong in their Teutonic attachment to the 
monarch of their blood and lineage, failed him not in the 
hour of his extremity. From rank to rank the cry of " Rod- 
erick the Goth !" still resounded, and their undaunted 
leader, while he set an example of high courage and undis- 
mayed conduct to his brave people, was himself animated by 
their unflinching devotion and steady bravery. While his 
eye was glancing every where, his body also seemed possessed 
of ubiquity. In the thickest of the fight his plume and ban- 
ner might always be seen, while his good Spanish sword, that 
knew no pause, was hewing the way before him through the 
ranks of the foe. His stout and unfailing knights were not 
behind. They were by his side alway . The high bearing 
and indomitable courage of the Gothic chivalry, were more 
than a match against a triple array of the enemy. Well 
might Roderick, with such men around him, have counted 
upon the day as his own, but for the disheartening and dis- 
astrous defection that had robbed him of the means of making 
effectual head against his foe. Still the battle went on, and the 
fight was not intermitted from the rising of the sun until noon. 

Every where Roderick had sought for the recusant leaders 
of the traitorous legions, who had deserted their country's 
banner ; but his sword found them not, nor could he pene- 

12 



2G6 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

trate the strong barrier of human bodies, that seemed ever 
gathering round them as a shield. 

The king now saw that the immense host of the Moors and 
renegades was extending, and, led by Julian and Orpas, was 
fast turning his flanks. It was a fatal movement to Roderick. 
As they deployed and extended, the inequality of numbers in 
the opposing ranks became more and more apparent. His 
men, reduced to a skeleton force, were falling around him by 
hundreds in the unequal contest. Still the cry went forth, 
" Roderick the Goth ! Roderick and victory !" — Vain cry ! 
Fate has declared against thee, Goth ! The Moor was too 
potent to be longer resisted, and squadron after squadron of 
the Gothic horse, and entire bodies of the infantry, were suc- 
cessively surrounded and cut off, or put to flight from this 
terribly stricken field. At last his entire front, borne down 
by a resistless charge, gave way and carried panic to his 
slender reserve in the rear. Roderick found himself almost 
alone, with but a handful of faithful followers, toiling on, and 
dealing death, it is true, but nearly exhausted with the long 
continuance of the carnage. Not a moment's rest had been 
given to their swords. One more brave rally, one more 
shout, and one more repelling charge, and he cleared himself 
from the encircling Moors ! He was now free from their 
toils. But where were the remains of that army of an hun- 
dred thousand men, with whom he had gone forth to battle on 
the first day 1 Gone, lost, deserted, perished, or in full 
flight from the field. Death came not to him in battle, 
though he had courted it in a thousand ways, preferring that 
if his crown must be stricken from his head, his dynasty 
should perish also in his own annihilation. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 267 



The day was lost ! The Moor was triumphant. Though 
Roderick had courted death and found it not in battle, he 
chose not to grace the triumph of the foe by surrender. 
With a soul unsubdued, but with thoughts of unfathomable 
bitterness, he was the last to leave the field. Covered with 
blood, his helmet and harness hacked and soiled, his plume 
broken, his steed smeared with gore, Roderick, the last of the 
Goths, without a follower, without a friend, without power, 
with a heart sad and weeping tears of blood, houseless and in 
poverty, slowly and no longer recognized, turned his back for 
the first time to his enemy. He gave the rein to his horse, 
unheeding his direction, and wandered along the banks of 
the Lethe. The towers of Xeres had long faded from his 
sight, and the shades of evening were gathering around him. 
Near the spot where I now stood, he dismounted and led his 
horse to the margin of the stream, and they both drank of its 
brackish waters. What were thy thoughts, O, Roderick, on 
the banks of that ancient river ! — the river of the dead ! 

" Thy waters, Lethe, were wont of yore to steep the 
soul in forgetfulness," said he, " and fain would I take the 
plunge into thy placid bosom to find oblivion. Come, my 
good horse, thou art the only friend I have left, and it is no 
fault of thine that I am no longer a king. Thou shalt be 
free to roam with the rest who have stood by my banner, but 
now, alas, are wanderers like ourselves !" 

Roderick quitted his hold of the rein, threw nis shield and 
his sword upon the grass, undid his helmet and took off his 
light armor, and cast them all into the stream. He stood 
a moment watching the little circles chasing each other as the 
water closed over these battered symbols of war ; and the 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



deep sigh he heaved, while the tear started to his eye and the 
blood receded to his heart, seemed to say — 

O now, forever, 
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, 
That make ambition virtue ! O, farewell ! 
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, 
The royal banner • and all quality, 
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, 
Farewell ! 

Roderick was heard of no more, and his subsequent fate 
remained a mystery. His friends and enemies alike believed 
him dead ; which belief was put beyond a doubt by the dis- 
covery of his faithful and well-known horse wandering at 
large without a rider. It was not until centuries afterward, 
when his name was nearly all that remained to history, that 
near the obscure town of Viseo in Portugal, a stone was 
found in a lonely grave-yard, which told the bitter story of 
his wrongs and gave indication of his final resting-place. 

The Archbishop, Roderick of Toledo, who died about the 
middle of the 13th century, is the earliest writer who men- 
tions the fact of the discovery above alluded to ; and these 
are his words : — 

Quid de Rege Roderico accident ignoratur ; tamen corona, 
vestes et insignia et calciamenta auro et lapidibus adornata, et 
equus qui Orelia dicebatur in loco tremulo juxta fluvium sine 
corpore sunt inventa. Quid autem de corpore fuerit factum 
penitus ignoratur, nisi quod modernis temporibus apud 
Viseum civitatem Portugaliae inscriptus tumulus invenitur : 

HIC JACET RODERICUS ULTIMUS REX GOTHORUM. 

Maledictus furor impius Juliani quia pertinax ; et indignatio, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



quia dura ; animosus indignatione, impetuosus furore, oblitus 
fidelitatis, imraemor religionis, contemptor divinitatis, crudelis 
in se, homicida in dominum, hostis in domesticos, vastator in 
patriam, reus in omnes, memoria ejus in omni ore amarescet, 
et nomen ejus in seternum putrescet. And this is the trans- 
lation : — 

What became of King Roderick is unknown ; nevertheless 
the crown, robes and insigna, and sandals adorned with gold 
and gems, and the horse which was called Orelia, were found 
in a marshy place near the river, without the body. "What 
was done with the body is utterly unknown, except that in 
modern times at Viseo, a town of Portugal, a grave is found 
inscribed — 

HERE LIES RODERICK, THE LAST KING OF THE GOTHS. 

Cursed be the impious fury of Julian, because pertina- 
cious ; and his indignation, because extravagant ; he was mad 
with fury, fierce with rage, forgot his allegiance, was unmind- 
ful of religion, a contemner of divinity, cruel in himself, a 
murderer of his lord, an enemy of his own family, a destroyer 
of his country, guilty in reference to all ; let his memory wax 
bitter in every man's mouth, and may his name rot forever ! 

This epitaph, given entire by most historians as the 
inscription upon the tomb, is so exceedingly bitter, that it is 
supposed Roderick himself wrote it ; but I have met with one 
writer who thinks, with greater probability, that all after the 
name and title, is the anathema of the good Archbishop of 
Toledo, pronounced in pious indignation upon the memory of 
Count Julian. If this supposition is right, then Roderick the 
Goth must be considered the true Catholic, and Julian and 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Orpas the counterfeit. The descendants of the Goths are, at 
this day, the real Spaniards of unmixed blood. 

The Spanish poet, Lope de Vega, also fulminates in Latin 
a curse against Count Julian, and does not spare Cava Julia, 
or Florinda, in his rhythmical outpouring. The verse, by 
implication, is also a vindication of the fame of Roderick. 

Execrabilem Comitem Julianum 

Abhorreant omnes, nomine et remoto 
Patrio, appellent Erostratum Hispanum, 

Nee tantum nostri, sed in orbe toto : 
Dum current coeli sidera, vesanum 

Vociferant, testante Mauro et Gotho, 
Cesset Florindae nomen insuave, 
Cava viator est, a Cava cave. 

Let all abhor the cursed Count Julian ; 

Let his paternal name be discarded ; 
Let them call him the Spanish Erostratus, — 

(Not only ours, but the whole world's :) 
While the stars revolve, let them cry out 

Madman, the Moor and Goth being witnesses ; 
Leave off the unpleasing name Florinda, — 
'Tis Cava, traveller j beware of Cava ! 

The Portuguese are more indulgent to Cava than the 
Spaniards. It is a general rule with the former to praise 
what the latter condemn, and vice versa. For example, take 
the following from Garcia Mascarenhas : 

Refresca em Covilham a gente aflita, 

Nam se sabe que nome entam a honrava ; 

Muyto depois foy Cava Julia dita, 

Por nascer nella a desditada Cava. 

Nam a deslustra, antes a acredita 

Filha que a honra mais que hum Rev presava : 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 271 



Hespanha culpe a forga sem desculpa, 

Nam culpe a bella, que nam teve culpa. 
The text is not altogether clear in its meaning, but its appli- 
cation may be sufficiently gathered from the nearly literal 
translation which follows. 

The afflicted people console themselves in Covilha. — 

It is not known what name it first bore ; 

Long afterwards it was called Cava Julia, 

Because the unfortunate Cava was born there. 

She is not a disgrace, but an honor rather; 

A daughter who does it more credit than a king supposed : 

Let Spain blame his inexcusable violence, 

Not accuse that loveliness which was innocent. 

The fate of Roderick has a melancholy interest attached to 
it, which his faults cannot entirely overweigh, even supposing 
the accusations against him are true. He is represented by 
nearly all the old historians or chroniclers who have written 
of him, as a high-souled, brave and generous prince, and the 
victim of an ambitious intrigue. 

" Certes," saith one, " he was a lord of greater bounty 
than ever had been seen before his time. And because he 
was thus bountiful, all those of Spain were likewise ; and 
they had the fame of being the most liberal men in the 
world, especially those of the lineage of the Goths. But as 
envy is the beginning of all evil, and saw how great was the 
goodness of this king, she never rested till she had brought 
about that things should be utterly reversed, even till she had 
destroyed him. Oh, what great damage to the world will it 
be when God shall consent that so much bounty and courage, 
and frankness and loyalty should be destroyed forever ! All 
nations ought to clad themselves in wretched weeds to mourn 



-27* VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



for the flower of the world, and especially ought the people 
of Spain to make such mourning." 

Whatever were his crimes or his vices, (and envy, it seems, 
was at the root of the accusations brought against him,) he 
fought against his fate like a man, and drank of the cup of 
expiation to the very dregs of bitterness. 

The scattered remnant of the Gothic people finally came 
together among the mountains, whither the good and venera- 
ble Bishop Urban caused their sacred books and the vessels 
of the sanctuary to be carried ; and thus, under Pelayo, 
shortly afterwards chosen king, (himself a Goth and of the 
blood of Roderick,) their religion and their lineage were pre- 
served in the Asturias — a rude but secure retreat, which 
received the appellation of the cradle of Spanish independence. 
Nearly all their written history was lost or destroyed in the 
confusion which followed the sudden disruption of the Gothic 
kingdom of Spain, and a veil of comparative darkness was by 
that means cast over the three centuries which witnessed 
their domination in that fair country. Enough however was 
rescued from oblivion, to redeem the Gothic name from the 
imputation of " barbarism" which the nations, who felt the 
force of their power, had cast upon it. We are compelled to 
judge of Carthage by the partial and jaundiced report of the 
Romans, her bitterest enemies, who razed her cities, and pur- 
posely and systematically destroyed almost every vestige of 
her national records ; and by the same distorted reflection 
are we in a measure compelled to judge of the Gothic race. 

All the national evils, all the miseries of millions of Spanish 
people, endured for the space of TOO years, were inflicted by 
one revengeful hand. The degradation of a nation, of a 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



gallant people thus " scattered and peeled," and hiding 
themselves in the caves and fastnesses of almost inaccessible 
hills, to be restored to their possessions and a king in the 
direct line of the Gothic original, not till after the lapse of 
centuries spent in painful exile, one would think would be 
quite sufficient to pacify the manes of the revengeful Julian 
and the daughter whom he vindicated. 

Was the seal of Heaven's approbation set upon Julian, 
the betrayer of his country 1 — Not so ! 

The subsequent history of the conspirators is told in a few 
words. Count Julian was thrown into prison by the Moors, 
whom he offended by his lofty and dictatorial pretensions, 
where he lingered out a miserable life, and died a miserable 
and obscure death. His wife, active and ambitious as Julian 
himself, was rewarded with rich spoils by the Moors, and 
had scarcely got possession of the ill-gotten wealth before 
she was stoned to death by the swarthy populace, who thus 
evinced, that while they were willing to reward the treason, 
they hated the traitor. The Archbishop Orpas, approach- 
ing the Asturias with the Moors, and summoning Pelayo to 
surrender, was crushed by a rock set in motion from the top 
of the hills that overlooked a narrow pass to the retreat of 
the Goths. So thorough and complete was the revulsion in 
the feelings of the Moors towards the family of Julian, that 
a son of his, (of whom nothing else of importance is told in 
history,) was cast by them from the top of a tower in Ceuta ; 
and Cava, whom they denominated " la mala muger cristi- 
ana" the bad Christian woman, they sent into exile out of 
Spain. At Algiers they long had a tradition that she was 
buried in a tomb of the public cemetery of that city. Such 

12* 



274 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



were the rewards of the blackest treason and conspiracy 
recorded on the historic page ! 

The plain and the hills where the great and decisive battle 
was fought, where the Goth fell and the Moor conquered, 
which lost a kingdom to the one and gave an empire to the 
other, where the Christian sank and the unbeliever tri- 
umphed, is now covered with the vine and the olive, the 
orange and the pomegranate, the fig-tree, and the huge, mis- 
shapen cactus bearing the prickly pear. They have derived 
nourishment from the blood and the bodies of the slain ; and 
enough fell on those eight days of slaughter to batten the soil 
for ages. 

Certain it is that the grape that grows there is peculiar, 
and of a flavor which no other soil produces. When I take 
my Sherry hereafter I shall almost be persuaded that I am 
drinking it out of dead men's skulls.— Here's to thy memory, 
O, Roderick the Goth ! — Sinful thou may'st have been, but 
I give thee the benefit of my doubts ', and so acquit thee. 
The draught I now take of Lethe, here upon the spot where 
thou didst unharness thyself, after a battle as well fought, 
and as bravely, as any of ancient times — haply the draught 
I now take of Lethe shall blot out the remembrance of thy 
sin, like the tear of the recording angel upon the leaf; and 
that which shall remain of record, shall be thy brave conduct 
and noble bearing upon the field. 

-' I arose from my seat," as Hervey said, after he had 
enjoyed a most satisfactory, comfortable, and melancholy 
consorting with the grave-stones in a country church-yard : 
I ceased pitching pebbles into the stream, in which boy -like 
employment I had been engaged, w solitary and alone," for 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 275 



the last half hour, reviving alike my historical recollections 
of Spanish by-gone days and my youthful skill at shooting 
marbles "from taw." And now I hurry back to St. 
Mary's to dine, feeling, decidedly, the impeachment of 
hunger stealing over me after a long abstinence. In sooth, 
that taste of the Lethe, rather saline in the fullness of the 
tide, has not produced its wonted forgetfulness ; but in its 
stead has performed the office of a bitter and provoking 
tincture. 



The houses of entertainment in Spain are divers. There 
is your grand, aristocratic hotel of the cities, (like those in 
our Broadway of the city of Manhattan,) which is called a 
Fonda. The Posada is your real, veritable Inn, where you 
may get all sorts of accommodation. Then there are los 
Cafes, Villares, Figones, Pastilerias, Tabernas, Casas y 
puestos de bebidas, and the like, of every degree, including 
that non-descript, the unfurnished inn by the way-side, which 
Lope-Tocho, (I think that is his name,) in the Mountaineers, 
recommends for the voracity of its lobster-looking fleas, puffed 
up with the blood of innocent travellers. 

The Posadas at St. Mary's are magnificently served — all 
the better, perhaps, that this was a gala-day, and celebrated 
in honor of St. John the Baptist. I saw nothing, however, 
symbolical of abstinence or " weeping in the wilderness ;" 
but the " cries" along the streets were as numerous as ever, 
and as deafening as in a fish-market. Flags stretched across 
the wide streets, as in our days of election, when some candi- 
date for public honors invites his friends to " meet here," 



276 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



indicated that you might enter and be rejuvenated -with crea- 
ture comforts, almost for nothing, and much cheaper (so the 
sign said) than you could at the place of " that man oppo- 
site." The decorated windows of the private houses showed, 
also, as plainly as could be, that hospitality was going on 
within, in the way of private entertainment ; and the mighty 
crowd and the bustle of the people moving to and fro all over 
the town, fairly put to flight the peaceful village character 
of the lovely St. Mary's. It was as if our Park, with all its 
Fourth of July booths and customers, some several times 
told, were set down in the midst of this Spanish town. St. 
John the Baptist was highly honored that day at the Puerto. 

We six, I mean myself and some five other Americanos, 
were assembled now at the principal Posada, and seated at 
the table of mine host, where we proceeded leisurely, after 
the fatigues and excitements of the day, to take our ease in 
our inn. Again I wished for that pure crystal from our 
Highland lake — that I might watch it as it would bob about, 
and turn over, reflecting its emerald hue, and grow less by 
degrees in our big stone pitcher, now, alas, filled with water of 
questionable Boreality. But St. Mary's water is pure, and 
the best in this part of Spain. All Cadiz comes to refresh 
itself here at her fountains. 

" Waiter !" 

" Sefior." 

" Take the orders of these gentlemen for theprovant ; and 
— hark, in your ear — let the vino be of the best, mark you, 
the very best that ever grew in Heres !" 

" Si, Sefior." 

Our bill of fare was unwritten, but the garcon was as vol- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 277 



uble as our English head-waiters at home. Our Don Anto- 
nio translated to the uninitiated, even unto the end of all the 
unrecorded articles, the variety whereof would put a gour- 
mand in jeopardy of his gastronomic senses. 

" Bring it all on !" exclaimed one of our captains, com- 
pletely confused with the rapid detail, and unable to 
remember where to choose. " Let's have a full-rigged 
dinner, studding-sails, out-riggers and all — and bear a hand 
about it, — dy'ehearT' - ... 

" Si, Senor," answered the graceful waiter, and dis- 
appeared. 

To dine well, to dine deliciously in Spain, one must go to 
St. Mary's. That which I best remember of our most 
delightful repast, in addition to the solid display of fish and 
viands, (we interdicted bull's beef for the day,) was the pro- 
fusion of fresh fruits, with which every corner and landing- 
place upon our board was crowded. At sight of these, one 
scarcely thinks of meat in Spain. Now let imagination come 
to your aid, and follow me for a moment. Think of this 
luxurious clime, and then dream of grapes, and oranges, and 
figs ; and peaches and pears, plums, apricots, apples, pome- 
granates, olives, almonds and nuts of every name ; fruits 
unmentionable, because I have forgotten their names ; vege- 
tables of every hue, fresh, tender and crisp ; piles of melons, 
oceans of preserves, seas of ices and congelations, mountains 
of Quelques-choses and Je-ne-sais-quois, and a world of other 
things in the fruit-line — and then you may have a glimpse, 
but only a faint glimpse of my Paradise : but you cannot 
enter upon its joys — " you can't come in" — unless you knock 
at the door of St. Mary. I adopt her as my patron saint, 



278 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

for I am sure she keeps the keys hereabout, instead of St. 
Peter. Have I not already said that the gardens of the Hes- 
perides are in Spain? — Paradise is here also. 

But here comes the Sherry ! The black wax is knocked 
off in our presence, and the tight-fitting cork is drawn, with 
a sharp and most exhilarating cluck. One glass to ascer- 
tain its flavor, and another to endorse its- character — and — 

" Waiter ! You may bring another flask of the same, and 
some segars." 

" Si, Senor." 

Now do I know why the Guadalete was called the River 
of Forgetfulness : — It takes its rise among the vine-clad hills 
of Xeres. The Saracens, after their victory, called it also 
the River of Joy. Lethe, or Joy, — it is all the same in its 
meaning, and its name imports that it bears upon its bosom 
the true odor and consolation of Sherry. And here again 
St. Mary keeps the keys ; and Duff Gordon is the custodier, 
the porter of Paradise, resident among the church-militant at 
Port St. Mary. 

Dive into his vaults, and be struck with astonishment at 
his tuns, rivalling that of Heidelberg in capacity ; and there 
you may draw wisdom, and joy, and forgetfulness, from St. 
Peter and St. Paul and from the whole Twelve, even down to 
St. Bartholomew the younger, according to the value of the 
saints in the Roman calendar, or according to the amplitude 
of the offering you lay upon the shrine. • I have said from St. 
Peter down to St. Bartholomew. I am wrong in the accep- 
tation. It should read from St. Peter upward ; for the 
lowest tun is that named St. Peter, and upon that foundation 
does Duff Gordon build his House. The tuns, named after 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 279 



the saints, (every thing, almost, bears the name of a saint in 
Catholic countries,) stand piled upon one another, story after 
story, rank after rank, and leading into each other by hidden 
conduits ; so that if you tap St. Peter at the foundation you 
get the oldest vintage, as it is called, though, in fact, the 
mixture of an hundred vintages may be found in his bosom. 
The draught you take from St. Peter is filled up immediately 
by a silent draft upon St. Paul ; and thus, robbing Paul to 
pay Peter, the exchanges go forward throughout the entire 
range of the Apostolic brotherhood, even unto the topmost 
tun, which, if I remember aright, is St. Bartholomew the 
Less, who must be content to have his vacuity filled up with 
the last vintage from the hills of Xeres. So, after all, it is 
idle to talk of the vintages of any particular year ; and when 
your wine-merchant indulges in the boast of the Anno 
Domini of his Sherry, put your finger to the side of your 
nose, and quietly utter the word " gammon." 

The flavor of the Sherry furnished me at my Posada, was 
the finest I ever tasted. It was aromatic. I carried the 
remembrance of it about me for many days afterwards, and 
" The scent of the roses hangs round me still." Do we ever 
get such Sherry in America 1 I fear we seldom get a taste 
of St. Peter. 

Who does not remember the Sherris-sack of FalstafF 1 — 
"Go, brew me a pottle of Sack f" 

Falstaff — (solus.) A good Sherris sack hath a twofold operation 
in it. It ascends me into the brain ; dries me there all the foolish, and 
dull, and crudy vapours which environ it ; makes it apprehensive, 
quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes ; which 
delivered o'er to the voice (the tongue), which is the birth, becomes 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



excellent wit. The second property of your excellent Sherris is, — the 
warming of the blood ; which, before cold and settled, left the liver 
white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice ; 
but the Sherris warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts 
extreme. It illumineth the face : which as a beacon, gives warning to 
all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm ; and then the vital 
commoners, and inland petty spirits, muster me all to their captain, the 
heart ; who, great and puffed up with this retinue, doth any deed of 
courage ; and this valor comes of Sherris : So that skill in the weapon 
is nothing, without Sack ; for that sets it awork ; and learning, a mere 
hoard of gold kept by a devil, till Sack commences upon it, and sets it 
in act and use. Hereof comes it that prince Hal is valiant : for the 
cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, 
steril, and bare land, manured, husbanded and tilled, with excellent 
endeavour of drinking good, and good store of fertile Sherris ; that he 
is very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human 
principle I would teach them, should be — to forswear thin potations 
and addict themselves to Sack. 

Falstaff. — Bardolph, I say ! — [Enter Bardolph.] 

Bardolph. — Here, sir. 

Falstaff. — Go fetch me a quart of Sack; put a toast in't. [Exit 
Bardolph, and he returns with the wine.] 

Falstaff. — Come, let me pour in some Sack to this Thames water ; 
for my belly's as cold as if I had swallowed snow-balls for pills to 
cool the reins. [Empties the can.] Go to, knave, there's lime in't ! 
Take aw^ay these chalices : Go brew me a pottle of Sack, finely. 

Bardolph. — With eggs, sir ? 

Falstaff. — Simple, of itself; I'll no pullet-sperm in my beverage. 
[Exit Bardolph.] 

I am in the land of Sherry, and therefore a word or two 
more about it, while " my foot is upon the hill." The 
quality of the " Sherris-sack," of the time of Shakspeare, 
upon whose virtues Falstaff so learnedly descants, has escaped 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 281 



the notice of the commentators ; whereat I greatly marvel, 
for scarcely a passage which would admit of a page or two of 
learned comment has been suffered to explain itself. 
Sherris-sack is another name for dry wine, or sec ; such, in 
fact, as is the Sherry of the present day. It is a favorite 
wine in England, introduced there under the name of Sack ; 
and the greater portion, if not all the best Sherry is sent 
there from the wine-merchants, formerly of Xeres, but now 
of Port St. Mary, where their immense vaults, or warehouses 
are established for the greater convenience of superintending 
their exportations. The allusion to "lime" being in the 
bottom of the can, will sufficiently be accounted for by the 
fact that lime is, or was, formerly, used as a rectifying bath, 
or flux, through which to pass the wine in order to deprive it 
of its crude qualities. The phrase, " Go to, knave, there's 
lime in't," is an interpolation of the players. I have not 
been able to find it in the older editions of the play. 

The finer pale Sherries are nearly pure, and are all made 
from the Xeres grape, having the admixture only of about a 
gallon of brandy to a butt. The dark brown is made by 
boiling down the pale Sherry to its utmost strength, and 
mixing this with the paler kinds as coloring matter, and as a 
preservative instead of brandy. The Amontillado is said to 
be the driest of Sherries, and is made from the grape plucked 
before it is quite ripe. It is also said to be the purest, 
having the least infusion either of brandy or boiled wine. 
The " burnt Sack" referred to in the " Merry Wives," — 
(" I'll give you a pottle of burnt Sack to give me recourse to 
him,") is nothing more than the brown Sherry of our own 
time. To my taste, this brown potation, generally of greater 



232 VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



strength than the paler kind, is not agreeable ; and the pure, 
aromatic Sherry flavor appears to be effectually lost or dis- 
guised by the burnt adulteration. It is almost out of the 
question to get a pure Sherry. It would not be a difficult 
matter to obtain it, if you could succeed in convincing the 
exporting merchant, in Spain, that he is not doing you a 
kindness by drugging it with alcohol, or other aqua fortis, to 
give it color or greater strength. 

A German traveller, writing many years ago from Spain, 
makes this remark : n The wine of Xeres, so famous abroad, 
has, when new, the flavor of Champagne ; when old (Xeres 
seed) it becomes of a darker yellow, and acquires more body. 
It costs here (in Xeres) about three pence (sterling) per 
bottle." 

Another traveller, an Englishman, whose work appeared 
in 1799, gives us the reason why the Sherry is brandied so 
profusely. It is to suit the English taste; and, therefore, 
we need not feel astonished at the kindness of the Sherry- 
merchants in trying to oblige their best customers. " I will 
send you an anecdote," he observes, " relating to our wine, 
which will show the opinion the Spaniards have of English 
sobriety and temperance. We have lately found some diffi- 
culty to obtain a sufficient quantity of good wine for our own 
use ; and having procured a recommendation to Messrs. da 
Costa & Company, wine-merchants at Xeres, sent to them 
for a supply of the best wine that could be procured at that 
place. Some casks were sent ; but, on trial, the wine was 
found to contain so much of the aqua ardente, or Spanish 
brandy, that it was not drinkable. On complaining to the 
merchants of our disappointment, they told us they were 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



extremely sorry that the wine had not pleased us ; that they 
had always understood that wine could not be made too 
strong for English gentlemen, and that they had mixed it 
accordingly for our use." 

Thus we see, that it is to the depraved taste of the Eng- 
lish we are indebted for the superabundance of spirit, that we 
sometimes find in this delicate wine, which else would be 
incomparable in flavor and quality. 

I called for my reckoning at the Posada, and though I do 
not now remember the cost of the entertainment, (nor would 
it be worth noting here, except to show its extreme reason- 
ableness,) I recollect the Sherry was put down at 40 cents, 
or two francs the bottle. Don Antonio told me afterwards, 
upon my expressing astonishment at its cheapness, (consider- 
ing it would have cost me at home several dollars,) that had 
I suffered him to make the call, the price of the wine would 
not have exceeded a pistareen, (one franc,) per bottle ! I was 
quite content, however, as it stood, though I perceived that I 
passed for green with Sefior Don Antonio. 

The end of our visit to St. Mary's approached. With the 
philosopher of old, I had "gained a day." It certainly was 
one of the pleasantest days of my life — full of enjoyment, 
incident, and reflection, and quite equal to the Italian's, 
whose heaven, among other things, lies in 

Beccafici, e ortolan' pelati, 

Buon' vin' dolce, e letti spiumacciati. 

The fig-birds, and the ortolans prepared, 

And good smooth wine, and beds well-made and aired. 

The sun was now going down. While the Sherry was 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



still making its circuit, and the gentle Habana, the dream of 
the poet, personified in the 

" Dull weed that grew on Lethe's wharf," 

was sending forth its graceful ringlets of white, which floated 
about the room for a while in lingering circles, and then van- 
ished overhead against the fair white-washed ceiling, the 
little passage boats were puffing away also, and getting up 
their steam as well. But before the bell rang to warn us of 
the hour of retiring, we struck up a well-remembered and 
appropriate " Round" (far more appropriate at Port St. 
Mary's than any other place on the globe,) using respectable 
emphasis and good rotundity of voice in the execution 
thereof. 

A boat ! — A boat to cross the ferry, 
And we'll go o'er to Port St. Mary, 
To laugh, and quaff, and drink good Sherry ! 

" 'Fore heaven an excellent song !" and sung by six 
voices, used to converse in storms. Trombones, speaking- 
trumpets, and ophecleides would have been at a discount 
during the performance of this ancient opera. The new ver- 
sion (or rather the old restored,) is worthy of being handed 
down to the posterity of the Puerto, and for ever hereafter to 
be sung or said at and before landing upon " Lethe's 
Wharf," and before leaving the same. Therefore it is to be 
revived in all its ancient splendors, as you will see it set 
upon the following page. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST 



2 5-3 



Adieu, St. Mary ! My beloved and patron saint, fare 
thee well ! I will have that reconstructed glee sung in thy 
remembrance wheresoever I may roam ; and the libation I 
will pay unto thee, and to the memory of Roderick the Goth, 
shall be in " good sherris-sack," that hath no "lime in't." 

And fare thee well, Lethe ! I have tasted of thy waters, 
and have drunk of thy grape which doth personify thee to 
the souls of men ; and, though thy name may be Oblivion, I 
shall not forget that thou art also the River of Joy ! 

st. mary's round. 
Dedicated to el Senor Don Duff Gordon, of the Puerto. 

Ad lib. a la Trombone. 




And we'll go o'er to Port St. Ma - - ry, 



±=ii!±* 



zs:=:t 



rrs 



To laugh, and quaff Duff Gor -- don's sher - - ry! 



saint Anthony's nose. 

We have many female saints in America, and but a single 
saint of the male species ; and even of him we possess only 
the Nose, whereon to hang a story. But of that more anon. 

The crush of the passengers striving to get on board the 
steamer was tremendous ; yet I have never seen so great an 
assemblage of people behave so orderly in their struggles for 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



precedence. The only incident at all derogating from this 
peaceful character, was the felonious attempt of a thief in the 
crowd to deprive a female of her shawl, while she was 
squeezed like a vice in the dense mass. She happened to be 
the Spanish wife of an English engineer, whom I afterwards 
met with again, exercising his vocation on board a steamer 
on the Guadalquiver. The ladron was caught in the act, 
and Bull, instead of calling for constables, drew oif as well 
as he could in the jam, and with a single blow stretched the 
picaroon upon the ground, leaving a mark upon his proboscis 
which must have endured for a lasting memorial. 

" Were you not afraid of the knife V 9 said I to him, jeer- 
ingly, afterwards ; " Your writers are always speaking of 
that instrument, as a Spanish feature on such occasions." 

" Knife?" said he — " Devil a bit ; the man that can use 
his ■ bunch-of-fives' need never fear the knife in this country. 
It is only when one is asleep that it is to be feared ; and 
even then, murder is less frequent in Spain than in Eng- 
land." 

" Then the people here are much belied," I observed. 

" Yes, sir, they are," replied the engineer ; " and the 
English make a raw-head and bloody-bones out of every such 
incident. There is no country in the world where the pun- 
ishment for murder is so certain as in Spain. No mercy 
reaches the convicted felon here. If his guilt is established 
beyond a doubt, punishment follows instantly — that is, they 
give him till next morning to say his prayers." 

I took up a position amidships of the little steamer, where 
I could breathe more freely than in the excessive crowd 
gathered aft ; and also that I might get a look at the engine 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 287 

— for I was curious to see what progress the Spaniards had 
made in steam machinery. 

I was not at all disappointed to find the engine of British 
manufacture. The makers 5 firm was fully indicated on the 
cross-beam, and in sundry other places ; and, lest you might 
forget, or not get sight of the smaller cards stuck all over, a 
huge brass plate, screwed on to the beam, was sure to 
impress it upon your mind that " Bolton & Watt," of Soho, 
were the manufacturers. These names are somewhat famous 
in the annals of steam. But of all clumsy and complicated 
machinery, commend me to that of the steamer plying 
between Cadiz and Puerto Santa Maria, bearing the above 
respectable impress. 

The recent invention of the "Oscillator " or movable 
cylinder-engine, intended for sea navigation (the first I had 
ever seen) was on board. The boilers and machinery were 
all beneath the deck, and the head, only, worked a few feet 
above it. The sky-light, or hatch covering the whole when 
needed, was now removed, and I had a fair view of the 
working apparatus. Complexity seems to be peculiarly 
English in every thing they do. Simplicity, such as we have 
in our steam machinery in America, and which England is 
behind the age in not adopting, was here studiously sacrificed 
to a useless and puzzling intricacy. Small as it was, it must 
have been a very expensive engine, as its finish was in the 
highest style of mechanical art. But the high finish did not 
do the work of the engine. I wish to heaven our engineers 
would pronounce this word en-gine, and not " in- gin /" 
How pertinaciously we adhere to the quackeries forced upon 
us by upstart and innovating English writers ! Walker 



2S8 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

made the whole world get into the infamous habit of mispro- 
nouncing such words, and we stick to them like wax. " En- 
gin," " ske-eyes," " ke-eynd," " Roome," (for Rome,) 
are all his — and fashionable English. They should be ex- 
ported from America, and sent back to their Cockney 
inventor. 

To return to the Oscillator of Bolton & Watt. Its com- 
bination of machinery and stupid arrangement were execrable. 
It took but a single glance, to convince me that both the 
power and the motion secured, could have been obtained with 
half the machinery, if simplified by a mathematical mind. 
What could have induced the great stupidity? I was not 
then enlightened, as to the immediate reason for this absurd 
aggregation of unnecessary apparatus, or I might easily have 
answered the question I have propounded. There was 
rivalry in the invention. In a short time afterwards I saw 
a beautiful " Oscillator" on board another steamer, which 
came from the hands of the inventors, (Capell & Company 
of London,) comparatively simple, neat, effective and 
admirable. But I have my doubts and fears, however, that 
this movable cylinder, a vast mass of cast iron oscillating on a 
trunnion, is a dangerous experiment, and will, one of these days, 
get an irreparable lurch in a high sea. The invention, smoth- 
ered in confused legs and arms, and mysterious movements of 
useless patchwork, how high soever the mechanical finish may 
be, will scarcely compensate for the derangement caused by 
the untoward centrifugal gyration of a ton or two of loose 
metal, suddenly departing from its proper sphere of action. 

The captain of the little Gaditana was a conspicuous 
character, though a sedate Spaniard. At starting he took 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 289 



Lis station aloft, on an elevated plank over my head, running 
amidships athwart the boat. This he constantly travelled 
from end to end, like a sentry on guard, and gave direction 
to the helmsman in a loud voice, which was distinctly heard 
fore and aft. To my great delight the helmsman's name 
proved to be " Antonio." You might have bet on the fact 
beforehand. The Spaniards refuse to adopt the wheel in 
steering ; and the old-fashioned tiller, sweeping the quarter- 
deck to the great annoyance of the passengers, is still in 
general use there. 

It was now dark ; and even if it had been broad day-light, 
the man at the helm could not have seen a yard before him 
for the press of people. Hence the necessity for the captain's 
position aloft, where he never ceased crying in Spanish to 
Antonio at the tiller. 

Antonio — starboard ! 

Antonio — steady ! 

Antonio — port ! 

Antonio — look out ahead for the barca ! 
These commands, most curiously prolonged by dwelling on 
the last syllable of each principal word, kept Antonio wide 
awake ; and, added to the several hundred voices calling to 
each other around me, created an uproar quite at variance 
with the sobriety of the Spanish character generally, and 
served as a contrast to the quietness which prevails on board 
our American steamers under like circumstances. With us 
the power that guides the helm is fixed forward, and the pilot 
sees every thing for himself, and needs no command to inform 
him where to go or how to steer. For lack of this simple 
arrangement and application of the wheel, our Gaditanian 

31 



290 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

craft struck on several sand-bars near the mouth of the river, 
and we had once great difficulty in backing off. 

At last the open bay is gained ; the refreshing sea-breeze 
meets us in the face, and the heated atmosphere of the steamer 
is instantly cooled and rendered tolerable. On striking the 
mole at Cadiz, I found I had lost my companions in the crowd ; 
but I hit on my never-failing expedient to gather them round 
me again — and forthwith gave them one loud and prolonged 
view-halloo of " Antonio-o-ha /" which was answered im- 
mediately by my brethren, from all points of the wharf and 
steamer ; and so we came together again at the rally. 

In honor of that most respectable Saint, with whose name 
we had conjured so often and so well, and whom no devils 
nor dancing imps could induce to look up from his pious 
labors, until lovely woman came and smiled upon him — we 
six pledged ourselves, that night, to meet at a future day, 
all six of us, on top of St. Anthony's JVose, upon the 
Hudson : And while astride of that fine and striking re- 
semblance to his eminent proboscis, protruding over a chin 
whose venerable beard is composed of perpendicular pine- 
trees of more than a century's growth — there we six, looking 
down from the mountain that skirts that glorious stream, 
agreed to crack a bottle of righteous Sherry, from the founda- 
tion butt of St. Peter, in honor of St. Antonio the immacu- 
late, and of St. Mary our patroness, and in memory of 
Roderick the Goth : Which several toasts and sentiments, 
be it known, are always to be accompanied by the Round of 
St. Mary, and drunk in good Sherris-sack, without infusion 
or adulteration, without brewing, without toast, without 
e gg s 5 — " simple, of itself!" 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SHOWING HOW TO NAVIGATE A YACHT ACROSS THE ATLAN- 
TIC, OR ELSEWHERE. 

The young sailor, or Amateur Yachter wishing to become a 
sailor, and to manage his own craft, will find this chapter, 
and the one following, more worthy of his attention, for prac- 
tical uses, than any other in the work. The general reader, 
on the contrary, having no especial regard for " tar, pitch, 
and turpentine," nor any desire to box the compass secun- 
dem artem, nor to keep his reckoning at sea in good set 
phrase, nor to " take a pull at the main brace" when the 
occasion justifies that nautical ceremony, will do well, with 
but a slight glance, to let them pass for the present. Even 
he, however, will be sure to recur to them, after being a short 
time at sea, for a fund of rational amusement, as well as 
instruction in the occult science of navigation ; and also for 
the means of illustrating much that he will find constantly 
going on around him, which otherwise would be a dead-letter 
or a sealed book to his comprehension. 

They are somewhat full of technical and practical naviga- 
tion, and in fact contain more theoretical information, in a 
few words, and in the simplest form, than many a good sailor 



293 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

thinks it worth his while to acquire on shore in the schools. 
If I have been obliged to knock the rust off my own seaman- 
ship, in order to be able to present the information in this 
form, I am a great gainer, and have reaped an advantage 
already, which I hope to share with many of my young and 
aspiring countrymen, who are determined, like the daring 
mariners of ancient Tyre, to " go down to the sea in ships ;" 
although those same men of that great Phenician city, 
" whose merchants were princes," had none of the modern 
advantages here presented for practical navigation. 

Far be it from me to undertake to write an extended 
treatise upon navigation, while such excellent books as Bow- 
ditch's " Practical Navigator," and Brady's " Kedge 
Anchor" are so easily obtained in all our sea-ports. No 
professional seaman, of any pretension to nautical science, 
will go to sea without them. But I think I may venture to 
predict, that, in addition thereto, no amateur sailor will here- 
after trust himself upon the deep waters, without tucking 
this, " The Romance of Yachting" into his birth or ham- 
mock, to solace him in the leisure hours of his voyage : And 
the more especially do I think thus, because I design to 
enlighten him in 'that which will be all-sufficient, (with some 
other slight aids,) to enable him to keep a reckoning for him- 
self, and daily to find the place of his ship upon the chart, 
so that he may "stick a pin there," and say to himself, 
" thus far have we gone." 

With the high example of Queen Victoria before the world, 
who is often on the sea a-yachting, why should not the intel- 
ligent women of this country, (who, if the truth were told, 
are as fond of yachting as the men,) also dip into the myste- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



ries of navigation ? The rules for ascertaining their latitude 
and longitude, or their position at sea, are so few and simple, 
that when they come to know they will not be obliged to 
wade through ponderous tomes to acquire them, we may well 
expect to see some of them as good sailors as her little 
majesty, who has bothered her cousin, "Lord Adolphus," 
and studied Hamilton Moore, to good purpose in that behalf. 
In short she is said to be setting her naval marine a bright 
and particular example in seamanship, and can " box the 
compass" with the best of them. I shall append a nautical 
vocabulary to this chapter, derived originally from the Hol- 
landers, which she is said also to have studied with absorb- 
ing interest. It may yet come to pass that the blue-eyed 
sailor-queen will visit America in her magnificent Royal 
Yacht ; and, if she does come, we promise her such a recep- 
tion as but few persons have ever received in this or any 
other country. It would be the outpouring of the most cor- 
dial welcome, accompanied by unstinted hospitality. Among 
the rest, " the boys," never lacking in gallantry, would be 
out that day, to greet her as the nation's guest ; and they 
would put their sweetest voices in tune, and new-copper their 
throats for the occasion. The queen of England cannot 
fail to be a lady, in a high and proper sense of the term. 
But no subject of the crown of Great Britain, except perhaps 
Father Matthew, will ever again be received here with any 
public demonstration, or extraordinary reception whatever. 
And why ? They have all, (with one honorable exception, 
James Stuart, of Edinburgh, the author of " Three Years in 
America,") abused our hospitality, and behaved towards us, 
on their return to their own country, with the most vulgar 



294 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

puppyism. Like the Arabs, we never forgive the sin against 
hospitality : — And it is right. 

TO ASCERTAIN THE LATITUDE. 

A good quadrant may be obtained for a few dollars : The 
plainer the better, so that it is a well-made and accurate 
instrument. A practical nautical man will select one for you 
at a glance, possessing every necessary requisite. He will 
also purchase for you a nautical almanac, which you may 
find indispensable ; but for the purpose of ascertaining the 
latitude solely, any almanac will answer in which you can find 
the sun's correct declination ; and the generality of common 
almanacs have it correctly stated, or within a few seconds 
perhaps, which are not very material for the amateur. I pro- 
cured a sixpenny one just as I was going on board, which, 
happening to prove quite correct in the declination columns, 
saved me the trouble of daily making corrections from the 
nautical almanac. 

See that your quadrant is adjusted before using it, by 
ascertaining whether the index and horizon glasses are per- 
pendicular to the plane of the instrument, which is managed 
by a simple screw on the back, and is easily understood by 
your being once shown how to adjust it. Once regulated, it 
will probably remain permanently so, unless the instrument 
is misused. 

You are now prepared for ascertaining your latitude ; 
which, you know, is distance from the Equator, north or 
south. It is measured by an arc of the meridian contained 
between the zenith and the equator. If the zenith distance 
of any heavenly body, when on the meridian, is ascertained, 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. W5 



and the declination of the object is given, the latitude is 
easily found. When the sun arrives at his meridian for the 
day, at the place where you then are, it is noon at that place. 

You will proceed as follows for your latitude : 

Ascertain from your almanac, or from any other source, 
the declination of the sun for the day of the month ; note it ; 
and then take your quadrant on deck a few minutes before 
noon. 

If the sun is bright, turn down a dark glass ; hold the 
instrument in a vertical position ; apply the eye to the hole 
in the sight vane ; direct the sight to that part of the horizon 
beneath the sun ; move the index till you bring the sun to 
touch the horizon ; by a slight vibratory motion of the 
quadrant, right and left, the sun will appear to sweep the 
horizon, which, by observing the lower part of the arc it 
appears to describe, will enable you to determine whether you 
have brought it down sufficiently, or not enough. The 
degrees and minutes shown by the index on the arc of your 
quadrant, where your right hand has been moving, will give 
you the sun's altitude at that moment. Continue your 
observation, and move the index, keeping the sun close upon 
the edge of the horizon, until he ceases to rise and appears to 
stand still on the horizon, without either rising or dipping 
below. It is then on the meridian. A moment afterwards 
he will dip, or commence descending below the horizon, and 
it is then noon ; or rather just before he begins to descend 
and is entirely stationary, it is noon, and the sun is at his 
meridian altitude, which you will find noted in degrees and 
minutes on the quadrant. 

You scarcely need any other instruction to be able to use 



206 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

your quadrant correctly ; nevertheless a practical man will 
show you in five minutes all about its use, which is so simple 
and easy that you will require but once showing. 

Then the following figuring takes place, according to the 
rule, which is as follows : 

Subtract the sun's meridian altitude, as found in de- 
grees and minutes on your quadrant, from 90° (first 
deducting 12' generally allowed for corrections.) The 
remainder is the zenith distance. To this remainder add 
your declination, if both be named the same, that is north, 
or south £ but if of different names, or one north and the other 
south, subtract ; and the product or remainder is your latitude. 

Thus, on the 25th of May, 1846, my latitude was obtained 
by the following figures ; few indeed and easy of com- 
prehension. 

90°, less 12', equal to ..>... 89° 48' 

Meridian Altitude of the Sun (quadrant) ... 71 05 

Zenith Distance, 18 43 N. 

Sun's Declination (almanac) . * 20 58 N. 

Latitude of the Ship . 39 41 N. 

The zenith distance is north, if the sun is south of the 
place you are in, and vice versa. 

TO ASCERTAIN THE LONGITUDE. 

I take it for granted that every body has a watch of such 
accuracy as to be considered a correct time keeper, and 
therefore it is a chronometer or time measurer. The dial 
should have a second hand. 

Take care to have this watch regulated to the time of the 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 297 



meridian of Greenwich, before you leave the shore, which is 
easily done by ascertaining the longitude of the place you are 
leaving and turning it into time, at the rate of 15° for 
every hour of time. Longitude is time, and " nothing 
else." Thus suppose New- York to be in longitude 75° 
West, (it is 74° exactly at Sandy Hook light,) the 
division of 15 into 75 will give you a result of 5, which may 
be assumed as the difference of time between Greenwich and 
New- York, namely 5 hours. This is supposing the longitude 
of the city as above given ; and being a convenient round 
number serves the better for the illustration. But the real 
longitude of New- York is 74° 01', which, by the same divisor 
and the same rule of division, will produce a difference of 
time answering it, exactly, of 4 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 
seconds. And thus also you will ascertain that for every 
degree of longitude you have 4 minutes of time. 

Put your watch forward, therefore, to answer the time of 
Greenwich. In New- York, then, supposing it to be 12 
o'clock at noon, your watch must be instantly changed to 4 
o'clock 56 minutes and 4 seconds — that time having elapsed 
since the sun passed the meridian of Greenwich ; but it will 
serve your purpose, with greater certainty, to leave your 
watch with a chronometer-maker, to be set and regulated for 
Greenwich time. If your watch has a daily variation of 
some few seconds, he will tell you the rate of loss or gain, 
which, during your voyage, you must allow in your time and 
calculation. You may see how important this will prove by 
supposing your watch either gains or loses half a minute per 
day. This would produce a difference of 5° in your 
longitude in crossing the Atlantic, which might plump you 

13* 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



ashore some dark night, if you are not careful to allow for the 
variation of your time-piece. 

You must never suffer your watch or chronometer to run 
down, nor alter its time, until the end of the voyage. It 
would be well, if convenient, to take a second watch with 
you, in order to keep the time at the ship ; and this watch 
should be regulated daily at noon. 

You have now nearly the whole secret of finding or keeping 
your longitude at sea. To be sure, there are some little 
allowances to be made, of which practice and an inspection 
of Bowditch will keep you informed ; but for all practical 
purposes, you have the general principle already. 

Thus, suppose yourself at sea, the time at the ship being 
noon exactly, as ascertained by the quadrant, which is an 
unfailing instrument. Upon the announcement of 12 o'clock, 
look instantly at your watch set for Greenwich, and note 
the time. Turn that time into longitude by multiplying it 
by 15 (or by the more convenient numbers 3 and 5, which is 
the same thing.) If your watch is a correct time-keeper, 
and noon was announced at the moment the sun was on the 
meridian, you have thus obtained your longitude; at any 
rate near enough for your general satisfaction. , 

I will now proceed, as plainly as possible, to show my 
work, corrections and all, by which I ascertained my longi- 
tude by the chronometer in the afternoon of the same day on 
which I obtained the foregoing latitude — namely, the 25th 
of May, 1846, at about 4 o'clock, ship's time, when a 
" sight" was taken with the quadrant, and the time instantly 
noted by the chronometer. I had already found my longi- 
tude at noon tolerably near, in the way I have above indi- 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 299 



cated; but the following is the minute and sure way of 
finding it at any hour of the day. The hours generally 
selected are about 8 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in 
the afternoon. You will resort to the tables in Bowditch 
and the Nautical almanac for the necessary corrections. By 
patiently running several times over the figures I shall give 
below, and referring to the tables, the learner will easily 
make himself perfect. 

The rule for finding the time at sea, and thence the longi- 
tude, may be best illustrated by the work itself at large, as 
given below. It may be thus shortly stated, the necessary 
corrections being supposed to be previously made, as far as 
possible. " First catch your fish," said Mrs. Glass ; and 
therefore — 

First, in order to find the polar distance, (figures that 
must enter into your calculation,) ascertain your declination 
and make your corrections ; then subtract your corrected 
declination from 90°, and the remainder will be your polar 
distance. The altitude of the sun, obtained by the quadrant 
at 4 P. M. (corrected by deducting the usual 12 minutes,) is 
of course previously attended to, and the time noted by the 
chronometer. The following work shows the polar distance : — 

20° 56' 00" Dec. Naut. Aim. 

1 44 Correction, Table 5. Bowditch. 



* 20 57 44 

1 53 Correc. 2d, for 4h. from noon, Tab. 5. 



20 59 37 True Dec. at 4 P. M. 
90 



23 Polar Distance. 



300 V0YAOE THE FIE ST. 



If your latitude and declination are both North or both South 
subtract the declination from 90° ; if one is North and the 
other South, add, for the polar distance. 

These matters being ascertained, the rule for the body of 
the work is as follows : 

Add together the sun's altitude, latitude and polar dis- 
tance ; take half the sum of all ; from that half sum sub- 
tract the sun's altitude. Then by Table 27 of Bowditch, or 
by some book of Logarithms, ascertain the secant of the. lati- 
tude, the co-secant of the polar distance, (rejecting 10 in 
each index,) the co-sine of the above-mentioned half sum, 
and the sine of the above remainder. Add them together 
and take half the sum of that addition ; which half sum, 
found in the line of sines, will answer to the time at the ship, 
also found in the same table. Subtract the time at the ship, 
thus found, from the time given by the chronometer (which 
you have already noted) and the difference, turned into longi- 
tude by Table 21, will be the longitude your ship is in. Or, 
to obtain the last result, multiply the difference of time by 
15, (or 3X5=15.) The figures for this day will then stand 
thus : — (See following page.) 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



SOI 



Sun's Alt. . 37° 06' Log. 

Lat 40 ... . .11575 Sec. Tab. 27. 

Polar Dist. 69 02985 Co-Sec. Tab. 27. 



Sum 146 06 



Half-Sum. . 73 03 . 9.46469 Co-Sine. Tab. 27. 
Sun's Alt. . 37 06 



Remainder. 35 57 . 9.76870 Sine. Tab. 27. 



m. s. 19.37899 Sum. 

54 16 Equal to Sine 9.68849 Half-Sum. (Tab. 27) 
3 28 ' Equation of Time, (Tab. 4, A.) 



3 50 48 Time at Ship. 

7 35 58 Time by Chronometer. 

3 45 10 Equal to 5Q° 17' 30" Long, of Ship. Tab. 21. 

A companionable and urbane commander, (they are nearly 
all such in America now,) will set you right in these matters 
at sea, and take pleasure in doing so ; and therefore I for- 
bear going more learnedly into the mysteries of navigation, 
believing that reference would be best had to some elemen- 
tary work for more numerous examples. If you have time 
for preparation, a resort to a skillful teacher on shore is 
recommended, who, in a few days, will qualify you in all the 
ordinary rules of theoretical navigation. At sea you will 
soon get the practice. A long preparation for yachting, 
however, takes away much of its interest and freshness when 
you come to enjoy it ; so, after all, short time for reflection, 
a well-filled carpet-bag, a draft on a banker, or a reasonably 



S02 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

fat rouleau of Spanish gold, will suggest the short cut to 
enjoyment ? and thus you may tumble at will on board any 
steamer or packet ship. But, if you fit out your own yacht 
or take passage in a transient ship for ports in Spain or 
Portugal, or up the Mediterranean, (and this seems to be the 
course of fashionable travel now,) you must be more careful 
of your preparation ; and you will do well to recur to my 
inventory elsewhere noted, for suggestions, which, if followed, 
will contribute much to your comfort at sea, where there is 
no recourse to the shops of Broadway, nor to the splendid 
markets of our great city. 

You will keep a Journal for amusement of course, and per- 
haps daily inspect the log-slate and work up your courses 
and distances by dead-reckoning, and enter them in your 
Log-book. It is but a few years since all the vessels of 
every nation, were navigated in that uncertain way ; and 
but few commanders thoroughly understood or practised 
the " Lunar s." The perfection to which the chronome- 
ter has been brought, and the simplicity of its application, 
seem to have superseded nearly all other modes of finding 
the longitude. No ship now goes to sea without one, or 
more, of these precious instruments ; but many a gentleman 
and lady possess chronometers of the first quality ; and all 
sailors can now afford to purchase a watch of the most perfect 
intestinal arrangement. Let them set it to Greenwich time 
before going on board for a voyage ; and, as I have hinted 
before, unless they have the means of sure correction, no 
alteration ought to be made in the rate until a return to 
port. The " calling the watch" at noon will always suggest 
a reference to the time-piece for the longitude. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



As a matter of further instruction and amusement I will 
append several tables for inspection, which, upon every voy- 
age, will be referred to, to settle questions that will pre- 
sent themselves to inquiring minds. The first I shall give is 
for determining the length of a degree of longitude in various 
latitudes ; or, rather, how much less you sail to go over a 
degree, in an easterly or westerly direction as you recede 
from the equator, than you would if constantly sailing on the 
equator, where the degree is 60 nautical miles. The length 
of a degree of latitude is always the same, 60 miles ; because 
the lines of latitude are drawn parallel to each other. The 
meridians or lines of longitude, on the contrary, are always 
approaching, until they cut or cross each other at the poles. 
So that, for example, in the 60th degree of latitude, the 
length of a degree of easting or westing is but half what it is 
at the equator, as you may easily ascertain from the table. 

The second table will enable you, in clear weather, to 
estimate your distance at sea, upon your approach to any 
lofty object on land, whose height has been previously ascer- 
tained. Thus, the Peak of the Island of Teneriffe is said to 
be 12,172 English feet above the level of the sea, and you 
will therefore be able to get sight of its summit at an 
immense distance. The same may be said of the Peak of 
Pico, one of the Western Isles, 7000 feet in height, which 
rises out of the ocean, " solitary and alone," like a cone or 
sugar-loaf. You will find the state of the atmosphere often 
a great impediment to your being able to reduce the table to 
practice ; but when it is clear the table will apply with cer- 
tainty, when the object begins to rise out of the water above 
the horizon. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



TABLE, 

OF LENGTHS OF DEGREES OF LONGITUDE 
IN VARIOUS LATITUDES. 



D oT 


Long. 


Deg. 


Long. 


D o? 


Long. 


Deg. 


Long. 


Deg. 


Long. 


in 


of 


in 


in 


of 


in 


of 


in 


Lat. 


Miles. 


Lat. 


Miles. 


Lat. 


Miles. 


-Lat. 


Miles. 


Lat. 


Miles. 


1° 


59.99 


19° 


56.73 


37° 


47.92 


55° 


34.41 


73° 


17.54 


2 


59.96 


20 


56.38 


38 


47.28 


56 


33.55 


74 


16.54 


3 


59.92 


21 


56.01 


39 


46.63 


57 


32.68 


75 


15.53 


4 


59.85 


22 


55.63 


40 


45.96 


58 


31.80 


76 


14.52 


5 


59.77 


23 


55.23 


41 


45.28 


59 


30.90 


77 


13.50 


6 


59.67 


24 


54.81 


42 


44.59 


60 


30.00 


78 


12.47 


7 


59.55 


25 


54.38 


43 


43.88 


61 


29.09 


79 


11.45 


8 


59.42 


26 


53.93 


44 


43.16 


62 


28.17 


80 


10.42 


9 


59.26 


27 


53.46 


45 


42.43 


63 


27.24 


81 


9.39 


10 


59.09 


28 


52.98 


46 


41.68 


64 


26.30 


82 


8.35 


11 


58.90 


29 


52.48 


47 


40.92 


65 


25.36 


83 


7.31 


12 


58.69 


30 


51.96 


•48 


40.15 


66 


24.40 


84 


6.27 


13 


58.46 


31 


51.43 


49 


39.36 


67 


23.44 


85 


5.23 


14 


58.22 


32 


50.88 


50 


38.57 


68 


22.48 


86 


4.19 


15 


57.96 


33 


50.32 


51 


37.76 


69 


21.50 


87 


3.14 


16 


57.68 


34 


49.74 


52 


36.94 


70 


20.52 


88 


2.09 


IT 


57.38 


35 


49.15 


53 


36.11 


71 


19.53 


89 


1.05 


18 


57.06 


36 


48.54 


54 


35.27 


72 


18.54 


90 


0.00 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



303 



TABLES 



FOR ASCERTAINING THE DISTANCE OF OBJECTS AT SEA, 

FROM THE DECK OF A VESSEL, WHEN THE 

HEIGHT OF THE OBJECT IS KNOWN. 



Height 


Distance 


Height Distance Height Distance 


Height 


Distance Height 


Distance 


in 


in 


in 


in 


in 


in 


in 


in 


in 


in 


Feet. 


Miles. 


Feet. 


Miles. 


Feet. 


Miles. 


Feet. 


Miles. 


Feet. 


Miles. 


1 


1.32 


170 


17.25 


420 


27.11 


840 


38.34 


2700 


68.7 


5 


2.96 


180 


17.75 


430 


27.43 


860 


38.80 


2800 


70.0 


10 


4.18 


190 


18.24 


440 


27.75 


880 


39.25 


2900 


71.2 


15 


5.12 


200 


18.71 


450 


28.06 


900 


39.69 


3000 


72.5 


20 


5.92 


210 


19.17 


460 


28.37 


920 


40.13 


3100 


73.7 


25 


6.61 


220 


19.62 


470 


28.68 


940 


40.56 


3200 


74.8 


30 


7.25 


230 


20..06 


480 


28.98 


960 


40.99 


3300 


76.0 


35 


7.83 


240 


20.50 


490 


29.29 


980 


41.42 


3400 


77.1 


40 


8.37 


250 


20.92 


500 


29.58 


1000 


41.80 


3500 


78.3 


45 


8L87 


260 


21.33 


520 


30.17 


1100 


43.90 


3600 


79.4 


50 


9.35 


270 


21.74 


540 


30.74 


1200 


45.80 


3700 


80.5 


55 


9.81 


280 


22.14 


560 


31.31 


1300 


47.70 


3800 


81.6 


60 


10.25 


290 


22.53 


580 


31.86 


1400 


49.50 


3900 


82.6 


65 


10.67 


300 


22.91 


600 


32.41 


1500 


51.20 


4000 


83.7 


70 


11.07 


310 


23,29 


620 


32.94 


1600 


52.90 


4100 


84.7 


75 


11.46 


320 


23.67 


640 


33.47 


1700 


54.50 


4200 


85.7 


80 


11.83 


330 


24.03 


660 


33.99 


1800 


56.10 


4300 


86.8 


90 


12.55 


340 


24.39 


680 


34.50 


1900 


57.70 


4400 


87.8 


100 


13.23 


'350 


24.75 


700 


35.00 


2000 


59.20 


4500 


88.7 


110 


13.88 


360 


25.10 


720 


35.50 


2100 


60.60 


4600 


89.7 


120 


14.49 


370 


25.45 


740 


35.99 


2200 


62.10 


4700 


90.7 


130 


15.08 


380 


25.79 


760 


36.47 


2300 


63.40 


4800 


91.7 


140 


15.65 


390 


26.13 


780 


36.95 


2400 


64.80 


4900 


92.6 


150 


16.20 


400 


26.46 


800 


37.42 


2500 


66.10 


5000 


93.5 


160 


16.73 


410 


26.79 


820 


37.88 


2600 


67.50 


1 mile 


96.1 



By adding one mile of distance, for every additional 100 feet of ele- 
vation beyond 5000, you will obtain a result near enough for all prac- 
tical purposes. 



S06 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

VOCABULARY OF SEA TERMS, OR NAUTICAL PHRASES. 

We are indebted to the Dutch of Holland (as I have already 
stated) for many of the nautical terms used in the English 
and American marine. Long before England had either a 
naval or mercantile marine of her own, of any magnitude, 
Holland was mistress of the seas in both capacities, and per- 
formed the principal carrying trade of the world. It was 
not until the promulgation of England's celebrated " Navi- 
gation act," (a spirited history of which may be found in 
Huntfs Merchants'* Magazine?) that the merchant service of 
Holland began to decline, and that of England to assume im- 
portance. The effect of the act was to exclude foreign produc- 
tions, unless brought in British bottoms. The blow was 
stunning to Holland, and in fact led to wars between the two 
countries. England eventually prevailed, more by force of 
this act than her arms, and Holland never fairly rallied 
again ; but the sea-phrases of Holland were continued in use, 
and remain so to this day, with very little alteration or 
improvement, and furnish the nautical terms both of the 
English and American Vocabulary. The principal part of 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 307 



these sea-terms may be found in Hamilton Moore's Navigator, 
an English work, from whence they were transferred to Bow- 
ditch ; and in the following pages they have been condensed and 
somewhat improved, and will furnish an apt study for the ama- 
teur and young sailor. I have left out much that is obsolete. 
Their Teutonic origin is quite apparent ; and the most of 
them, so designated, may also be found (whence they were 
originally taken) in the old Dictionary of Bailey — the best 
technical and general Dictionary extant, now nearly but 
undeservedly out of use. It is the father of all modern English 
Dictionaries, -and yet no English lexicographer has had the 
magnanimity to acknowledge his unquestionable indebtedness 
to its pages. For the practical rigging and sailing a ship, 
there is no work equal to the " Kedge Anchor," a most elabo- 
rate yet concise volume, recently published by Mr. William 
Brady, Sailing Master in the United States Navy. 

Aback. — The sails are said to be aback when they are pressed aft 

against the mast by the force of the wind. 
Abaft or Aft. — The sternmost part of a ship. To carry aft any 

thing is to carry it towards the stern. The mast rakes aft when 

it inclines towards the stern. 
Abaft the Beam. — Used when the wind or an object bears aft of the 

ship's beam, or of a line at right angles with the keel of the ship. 
Aboard. — The inside of a ship. ' Board main tack ! The order to draw 

the lower corner of the mainsail down to the chess tree. The new 

western phrase, " he took passage on the steamboat," " he came 

on the ship," " he travelled on the cars," &c, is very improperly 

getting into use in America. It is a vulgar barbarism. It should 

be " inP or u on board.'''' 
About. — The situation of a ship as soon as she has tacked, or 

changed her course. 
About Ship ! — The order to the ship's crew to prepare for tacking. 

Ready about ! has the same meaning. 
Abreast. — The situation of two or more ships lying parallel to each 

other. 
Adrift. — The state of a ship broken from her moorings, and driving 

about without control. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Afloat. — Buoyed up by the water from the ground. 

Afore, or Forward. — All that part of the ship which lies forward, 

or near the stem. 
After. — A phrase applied to any object in the hinder part of the 

ship. The same as aft or abaft. 
Aground. — The situation of a ship when any part of her bottom rests 

on the ground. 
Ahead. — Anything which is situated on that point of the compass 

to which a ship's stem is directed, is said to be ahead -of her. 

To go ahead is to move forward. 
A-hull. — The situation of a ship when all her sails are furled and 

her helm is lashed to the lee-side ; her head being somewhat 

inclined to the direction of the wind. 
A-lee. — The position of the helm when it is put down on the 

lee-side. 
All-ust-the-wind. — The state of a ship's sails when they are parallel 

to the direction of the wind, so as to shake -or shiver. 
All hands a-hoy ! — The call by which all the ship's company are 

summoned upon deck. 
Aloft. — Up in the tops; at the mast heads; or any where about 

the higher rigging. 
Along-side. — Side by side ; or joined to another ship or object. 
Along-shore. — Along the coast ; a course which is in sight of the 

shore and nearly parallel to it. 
Aloof. — At a distance. Keep aloof, that is, keep at a distance. 
Amidships. — The middle of a ship. 
Anchor. — The iron instrument by which a ship is held. — The anchor 

is foul, is when the cable has got about the flook of the anchor. 

The anchor is a-peak, when directly under the bow or hawse- 
hole of the ship. The anchor is a-cock-bill, when it hangs up and 

down the ship's side. 
An-end. — The position of any mast, spar, &c, when standing per- 
pendicularly. The top-masts are said to be an-end when they 

are hoisted up to their usual position. 
A-peak. — Perpendicular to the anchor, the cable having been hove 

so tight as to bring the ship directly over it. The anchor is then 

said to be a-peak. 
Ashore. — On shore, as opposed to aboard. It also means aground. 
Astern. — Any distance behind a ship, as opposed to ahead. 
At anchor. — The situation of a ship riding by her anchor. 
Athwart. — Across the line of a ship's course. 
Athwart-hawse. — The situation, of a ship when driven by accident 

or design across the fore-part of another. 
Athwart the fore-foot.— When any object crosses the .line of a 

ship's course, but ahead of her. 
Athwart-ships. — In a direction across the ship. 
A-trip. — When the anchor is drawn out of the ground and hangs 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



perpendicularly by the cable or buoy-rope. The top-sails are 

said to be a-trip when thy are hoisted up to the mast-head, or to 

their utmost extent. 
Avast ! — A term used for stop ! or stay ! or hold on ! as avast heaving^ 

do not heave any more. 
A- weigh. — The same as a-trip, when applied to the anchor 

To Back the Anchor. — To carry out a small anchor ahead of the large 
one, in order to support it in bad ground and to prevent it from 
loosening or coming home. 

To back astern. — In rowing, is to impel the boat with her stern fore- 
most by means of the oars. 

To back the sails. — To throw them against the mast, or to arrange 
them so that the ship will gather stern- way, or move astern. 

To bag-pipe the mizzen. — To lay the mizzen or cross-jack aback, by 
bringing the sheet to the mizzen shrouds. 

To balance. — To contract a sail into a narrower compass, by folding up 
a part at one corner. Balancing is peculiar only to the mizzen 
of a ship, and to the mainsail of those vessels wherein it is ex- 
tended by a boom. 

Bale. — Bale the Boat.— To throw the water out. 

Ballast. — Pig-iron, kentledge, stones, or gravel. The last is called 
shingle-ballast. The use of ballast is to bring the vessel down to 
her bearings in the water. To trim the ballast, is to spread it 
about and lay it even. The ballast shoots, is when it shifts or runs 
over from one side to the other. 

Bare-poles. — When a ship has no sail set she is said to be under 
bare-poles. The masts and spars of a vessel are familiarly called 
sticks. 

Barge. — A caravel-built, or open boat, that rows with ten or twelve 
oars. Two of Columbus's vessels with which he first crossed the 
Atlantic were called caravels ; the third and largest one was decked. 

Batten. — A thin piece of wood. To batten down the hatches, is to lay 
battens upon the tarpaulins which are placed over the hatches in 
bad weather, and to nail them down that they may not be washed 
off. 

Beacon. — A mark or monument or buoy erected on or anchored over 
a shoal or sand-bank. Also a signal placed at the top of hills or 
elevated -places. 

Beams. — Strong pieces of timber placed across a ship to support the 
decks. In small vessels they are called carlines. 

Bear-a-hand ! — Make haste, despatch, be lively, quick. 

Bearing. — Signifies the point of the compass which one place or 
object bears to or from another ; or how an object bears from the 
ship by compass. Thus also, it may be said to bear on the beam, 
abaft the beam, on the bow, ahead, astern, &c. 

Bearings of a ship. — The line which is formed by the water upon 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



her sides when she is at anchor with her ballast and stores on 
board. To bear to is to sail into a harbor, &c. To bear round up, 
is to put the ship before the wind. To bring your guns to bear, is 
to point them at an object. 

To bear in with the land. — To sail towards the shore. 

To bear off. — To thrust or keep off any object from the ship's side. 

Bearing up, or bearing away. — The act of changing the course of a 
ship in order to run before the wind, after she has sailed some time 
with a side wind, or close-hauled. It is generally done to arrive 
at some port under the lee, or to avoid danger occasioned by a vio- 
lent storm, or an enemy in sight, or to ease the ship. 

Beating to windward. — Making progress against the direction of 
the wind, by steering, alternately, close-hauled, on the starboard 
and larboard tacks. 

To becalm. — To intercept the current of the wind in its passage to 
the ship, by any object above her sails. Sometimes one sail 
becalms another • and a high sea will take the wind out of 
a sail. 

Before the beam.— When the wind or an object bears forward of 
the ship's beam or of a line at right angles with the ship's keel. 

Belay. — To make fast any running rope ; as belay the main brace, that 
is, make it fast. 

Bend. — To apply to and fasten. Wend the sails ; apply them to the 
yards and fasten them. Unbend the sails ; cast them off and 
lower them from the yards. Bend the cable, make it fast to the 
anchor. 

Between-decks. — The space between any two decks of a ship. 

Bight. — A narrow inlet or bend of the sea. 

Bight of a rope. — The double part of a rope when it is folded, "so 
that a loop is made. 

Bilge. — To break. The ship is bilged, when her planks are broken 
in by violence. 

Bilge water. — Water which lies on the ship's bottom or floor, and 
when pumped up has generally any thing but an agreeable smell. 

Binnacle. — A box wherein to place the compass on deck. 

Birth, (frequently but erroneously written berth.) — A place for a 
ship, as the ship's birth. A place to sleep in. To birth the ship's 
company, is to allot the men their places to mess in. To birth 
the hammocks, is to point out where each man's hammock is to 
hang. 

Bitts. — Large pieces of timber in the fore-part of a ship round which 
the cables or hawsers are fastened when the ship is at anchor. 

After-bitts. — A smaller kind of bitts upon the quarter-deck, for 
belaying the running rigging. 

To bitt the cable. — To confine the cable to the bitts by one turn 
under the cross-piece and another turn round the bitt-head. In 
this position it may either be kept fixed or veered away. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST- 311 



Bitter. — The turn of the cable round the bitts. Bitter-end ; that 
part of the cable which remains within-board, round about the 
bitts when the ship is at anchor. Hence the derivation of the 
word bite, or bight. On board of a man o' war the end of the cable 
that is inboard, is clinched around the mainmast in the chain locker 
which is in the hold and not around the bitts ; a bight is formed 
on deck and hove over the bitts. 

Block. —A piece of wood with running sheaves or wheels in it, 
through which the running rigging is passed to add to the purchase 
or mechanical power. 

To Board. — To enter a ship. To go on board in a hostile manner. 

Board. — To make a board is to stretch upon any tack when a ship is 
working upon a wind. T<i board it up, is to turn to windward. 
Stem-board, is when she loses ground in working upon a wind, or 
gathers stern-way. 

Boatswain. — The officer on board a ship of war who has charge of 
all the cordage, rigging, anchors, &c. 

Bolt-rope. — The rope which goes round a sail to which the canvass 
is sewed. The side ropes are called leach-ropes, and that at the 
bottom the foot-rope. 

Bonnet of a sail. — An additional piece of canvass put to the sail in 
moderate weather to hold more wind. Lace on the bonnet ; fasten 
it to the sail. Shake off the bonnet ; take it off. 

Boot-topping. — Cleaning the upper part of a ship's bottom, or that 
part of the side immediately under the surface of the water, and 
smearing it with a preparation of tallow, rosin, &c. 

Both sheets aft. — The position of the sails when the ship is sail- 
ing right before the wind. 

Bowlines. — Lines made fast to the sides of the sails to haul them 
forward when upon a wind, which being hauled taut enable the 
ship to come nearer to the wind. 

To bowse. — To pull upon any mass or body with a tackle in order 
to move it. 

Bowsprit. — A large mast or piece of timber which stands out from 
the bows of a ship. 

Box-hauling. — A particular method of veering a ship when the swell 
of a sea renders tacking impracticable. " Wearing short round 
on her heel" is so called sometimes. 

Boxing. — An operation somewhat similar to box-hauling. It is per- 
formed by laying the head-sails aback, in order to turn the ship's 
head into the line of her course after she has inclined to wind- 
ward of it. 

Boxing-the-compass. — Turning to every point of the compass. Also 
the amusement of repeating the points of the compass forward and 
backward. 

Braces. — The ropes by which the yards are turned about so as to 
fill the sails. 



312 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



To brace the yards. — To move the yards by means of the braces 
to any required direction. 

To brace about. — To brace the yards round for the contrary tack. 

To brace sharp. — To brace the yards to a position in which they 
will make the smallest possible angle with the keel for the ship to 
have headway. 

To brace to. — To ease off the lee-braces, and round in the weather 
braces, in order to assist the motion of the ship's head in tacking. 

Brails. — A name given to certain ropes belonging to the spanker, 
used to truss it up to the mast. It is likewise applied to all 
ropes employed in hauling up the bottoms, lower corners, and 
skirts of the other great sails. 

To brail up. — To haul up a sail by means of the brails, for the 
more ready furling it when necessary. 

To break bulk. — To begin to unload a ship. 

To break shear. — When a ship at anchor is forced from her posi- 
tion by wind or current, so as to endanger the tripping of her 
anchor, she is said to break her shear. 

Breaming. — Burning off the filth from a ship's bottom. 

Breast-fast. — A rope or hawser employed to confine a ship side- 
ways to a wharf, or to some other ship. 

To bring to. — To lie to. — To check the course of a ship by arrang- 
ing the sails to counteract each other, so that she will neither 
advance nor recede. 

To broach to. — To turn suddenly to windward of a ship's course, 
so as to present her side to the wind and endanger her overset- 
ting by having her sails taken aback. To bring by the lee 
produces the same effect on a ship turning in a contrary direction 
until her sails are taken aback. In either case the ship becomes 
unmanageable. Generally it is the result of carelessness of the 
man at the helm. Sometimes it occurs by reason of a sudden 
change of wind. 

Broad-side. — One side of a ship. A discharge of all the guns on 
one side of a ship. 

Broken-backed. — The state of a ship which is so loosened in her 
frame as to drop at each end. 

By the board. — Over the ship's side. 

By the head. — When a ship draws more water forward than aft. 

By the wind. — Th$ course of a ship as near as possible to the 
direction of the wind, which is generally within six points of it. 
Full and by, is keeping the sails full while sailing by the wind 
close-hauled. 

Bunt-lines. — Ropes fastened to the foot rope of square-sails to draw 
them up to the middle of the yards for furling. 

Buoy. — A floating conical cask, or piece of timber, moored upon shoals 
to point out dangerous places. It is also attached to anchors to 
show where the anchor lies in case the cable parts. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 313 



Cap. — A strong, thick block of wood, having two mortices or holes 
through it, one square and the other round, used to join the lower 
and upper masts together. 

Capsize. — To overturn. The boat is capsized, when overturned or 
overset. Capsize the coil of rope — that is, turn it over. 

Capstan. — A large mechanic power, secured firmly on the dock, by- 
means of which the anchor is weighed, or other work done requi- 
ring great power. A windlass is used for the same purpose. 

To careen. — To incline a ship on one side. 

To carry away. — To break. 

Casting. — Falling off, so as to bring the wind on the side of the 
ship ; more particularly applied . to a ship about weighing 
anchor. 

Cat-heads. — The large timbers on a ship's bows, with sheaves in them, 
by which the anchor is hoisted or catted, after it has been hove 
up by the cable. 

To cat the anchor. — To hook the cat-block to the ring of the 
anchor, and haul it up close to the cat-head. 

Cat's-paw. — A light air of wind perceived at a distance in a calm, 
sweeping the surface of the sea very lightly, and dying away 
before it reaches the ship. 

Caulking. — Filling the seams of a ship with oakum. 

Chains. — Flat projecting timbers, built on the sides of a ship, to 
which the shrouds are fastened. 

Chain-plates. — Plates of iron fastened to the ship's sides under the 
chains ; to theses plates the dead-eyes are fastened. 

Chappelling. — Turning a ship round in a light breeze, when she is 
close hauled, so that she will recover her course without touching 
the head braces. 

Chase. — The vessel pursued. Chaser — the vessel pursuing. 

Cheerily. — A phrase implying heartily, quickly, cheerfully. 

To claw off. — To turn to windward from a lee shore, 'to escape 
shipwreck. 

Clear. — Opposed to foul ; fair, open ; not interrupted by rocks or 
other impediments ; nothing in the way. 

To clear the anchor. — To get the cable off the flooks; and to disen- 
cumber it ready for dropping. 

Clear hawse. — When the cables are directed to their anchors with- 
out lying athwart the stem. 

To clear the hawse. — To untwist the cables when they are 
entangled, by having either a cross, an elbow, or a round turn. 

Clew-lines. — Ropes which come down from the yards to the lower 
corners of the sails, and by which the corners or clews of the sails 
are hauled up. 

Clew of a sail. — The lower corners of square sails, but the after- 
most only of stay-sails, the other lower corner being called the 
tack. 

14 



314 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING 



To clew up. — To haul up the clews of a sail to its yard by means 
of the clew-lines, &c. 

Close-hauled. — The trim of the ship's sails when she endeavors to 
make progress in the nearest direction possible towards that point 
of the compass from which the wind blows. 

To club-haul. — A method of tacking a ship when it is expected she 
will miss stays on a lee shore. 

To coil a rope. — To lay it round in a ring, one turn or fake over 
another. 

To come home. — The anchor is said to come home when it loosens 
from the ground by the action of the cable, and approaches the 
place where the ship floated at her moorings. 

Coming-to. — The approach of the ship's head to the direction of 
the wind. 

Course. — The point of the compass upon which the ship sails. 

Courses. — A ship's lower sails. The foresail is the fore-course, the 
mainsail the main course, &c. 

The ship under her courses. — When the ship has no sail set but 
the foresail, mainsail and mizzen. 

Compass. — The Mariner's Compass is an instrument to steer by, rep- 
resenting the horizon divided into 32 points of 11° 15' each, 
making in all 360°. The needle is a piece of steel magnet- 
ized, which points towards the north, unless diverted by some 
local attraction. There is a slight variation from the true north, 
which increases as you proceed to the east. 

Coxswain. — The person who steers the boat. 

Crank. — The ship is crank when she has not a sufficient cargo or 
ballast to render her capable of bearing sail, without being ex- 
posed to the danger of oversetting. 

Cross-jack, or Crotchick. — Sometimes applied to the mizzen yard. 

Crowfoot. — A number of small lines spread from the fore parts of 
the tops, to prevent the topsails from catching under the top-rim ; 
and are sometimes used to suspend the awnings. 

Cunn. — To direct the steering of a ship. 

To cut and run. — To cut the cable, and make sail instantly, without 
waiting to weigh anchor. 

Davit. — A beam of timber or a bar of iron, used as a crane, to hoist 

the nooks of the anchor, or by which the quarter boats are hoisted 

and suspended. 
Dead-eyes. — Blocks of wood through which the lanyards of the 

shrouds are reeved. 
Dead-lights. — A kind of shutter for the windows in the stern of the 

ship, closed in bad weather. 
Dead-water.— The eddy of water, which appears like whirlpools, 

closing in with the ship's stern as she sails on. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 



Dead-wind, or wind dead ahead. — The wind blowing from the very 
quarter to which you wish the ship to go. 

Dismasted. — The state of a ship that has lost her masts. 

Dog-vane. — A small vane made of feathers and cork, placed upon 
the ship's quarter to show the direction of the wind. 

Dog-watch. — The short watches of the ship's crew from four to six 
in the morning, and from six to eight in the evening. 

Doubling. — The act of sailing round or passing beyond a cape or 
point of land. 

Douse. — To lower suddenly or slacken ; to strike or haul down. 

Down-haul. — The rope by which any sail is hauled down. 

To drag the anchor. — To trail it along the bottom after it is loos- 
ened from the ground. 

To draw. — When a sail is filled by wind, so as to advance the ship 
in her course, the sail is said to draw. To keep all drawing, is to 
keep all the sails full. 

Drift. — The departure of a ship sideways from her direct course. 
It also means a ship's motion when she is not under the govern- 
ment of her helm. 

Driver. — A sail set upon the mizzen yard in light winds. Sometimes 
called the cross-jack. 

The ship drives. — When her anchor comes through the ground. 

Drop. — Used sometimes to denote the depth of a sail. 

To drop anchor. — To anchor ; to let go the anchor. 

To drop astern. — The retrograde motion of a ship. 

Dunnage. — A quantity of loose wood, &c. laid at the bottom of a 
ship's hold to keep the cargo from being damaged. 

Earings. — Small ropes used to fasten the upper corners of sails to 
the yards. 

To ease.— To ease orr. — To slacken gradually. 

Ease the ship ! or Meet her ! — The command given by the pilot to 
the steersman to put the helm a-lee when the ship, close hauled, is 
about to plunge her bows deep in the water. 

Elbow in the hawse. — When a ship, being moored, has gone round 
twice the same way, upon the shifting of the tides, so as to lay 
the cables over one another. Having gone once round wrong, 
the ship makes a cross in the cable ; twice an elbow ; and three 
times, a round turn. 

End for end. — To shift it, that is, to shift " end for end." In speak- 
ing of a spar it is to bring one end where you had the other. 

End on. — When a ship approaches a shore, without being able to 
prevent her, she is said to go end on for the shore. 

Ensign. — The national flag worn at the stern of a ship. 

Entering-port. — A large port in the side of three-deckers to enter 
the ship by between decks, to save the trouble of ascending the 
side. 



316 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Even keel.— When the keel is horizontal, and drawing the same 
water fore and aft. 

Fair. — A term applied to the wind when favorable to a ship's course. 

Fake. — One circle or layer of a rope coiled. 

Fag-end. — The end of any rope untwisted by frequent use, to pre- 
vent which the end is secured by whipping, or winding twine 
around it. 

To fall aboard of. — To strike or encounter another ship, when one 
or both are in motion. 

To fall astern. — The motion of the ship with her stern foremost : 
Stern- way. 

Falling-off. — The ship's head turning from the direction of wind. 
It is used in opposition to coming to. Nothing off! The com- 
mand to the man at the helm to keep the ship near to the wind. 

Fathom. — A measure of 6 feet. 

Fid. — A square bar of wood or iron, with shoulders at one end, used 
to support the weight of the topmast when erected at the head of 
a lower mast. 

Fid for splicing. — A large piece of wood of a conical figure, like a 
marlin-spike, used to extend the strands and layers of cables in 
splicing. 

To fill. — To brace the sails so as to receive the wind in them, after 
they have been either shivered or braced aback. 

Fish ; Fish the mast. — A large piece of wood applied to the mast 
or spar to strengthen it. 

Fish-hook. — A large hook by which the anchor is fished up or re- 
ceived and brought to the cat-head : and the tackle used in the opera- 
tion is called fish-tackle. 

To fish the anchor. — To draw up the flooks of the anchor towards 
the top of the bow, in order to stow it after having been catted. 

Flag. — A general name for the national colors. 

Flat aft. — The situation of the sails when their surfaces are pressed 
aft against the mast by the wind. 

To flatten in. — To draw in the aftermost lower corner, or clew of 
a sail, towards the middle or stern of the ship, to give the sail 
greater power to turn the vessel. 

To flatten in forward. — To draw in the fore-sheet, jib-sheet, and 
fore-staysail sheet, towards the middle of the ship. 

Flaw. — A sudden breeze or gust of wind. 

Floating. — Buoyed up by the water. 

Flood-tide. — The tide when it flows in, or rises. 

Flowing sheets. — A ship going several points large has flowing 
sheets. Not close-hauled. 

Fore. — That part of the ship's frame, mast, and machinery, near the stem. 

Fore-and-aft. — Throughout the whole ship's length ; lengthways 
of the ship. 

Forecastle. — The place forward occupied by the sailors for sleeping. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 817 



Fore-reach. — To shoot a-head, or go past another vessel. 

To force over. — To force a ship violently over a shoal. 

Forward. — Towards the fore part of a ship. 

Foul. — Used in opposition to clear or fair. 

To founder; — To sink at sea by filling with water. 

To free ship. — Pumping a ship so as to discharge more water than 

leaks into her. 
To freshen. — When a gale increases it is said to freshen. 
To freshen hawse, or to " Freshen the ?^^p." — To veer out or heave 

in a little of the cable so as to let another part endure the stress 

at the hawse-hole. It is also applied to the act of renewing the 

service round the cable at the hawse-hole. 
To freshen the ballast. — To divide or separate it. 
Fresh way. — When a ship increases her velocity. 
Full. — When the sails of a ship are kept distended by the wind. 
Full-and-by. — When a ship is close hauled, and sailing so as not to 

steer too near the wind nor to fall off to leeward. 
To furl. — To roll a sail up close to the yard or stay to which it 

belongs, and to secure it with a cord. 

Gage of a ship. — Her depth of water, or what water she draws. 

To gain the wind. — To get on the weather side or to windward of 
some other ship when both are sailing as near the wind as possible. 

To Gammon the bowsprit. — To secure it by turns of a strong rope 
passed round it and into the cutwater, to prevent it from having 
any motion. 

Gangway. — That part of a ship's side by which persons enter and depart. 

Garboard streak. — The first range or streak of planks laid in a 
ship's bottom next the keel. 

Gasket. — The rope which is passed round the sail to bind it to the 
yard when it is furled. 

To Gather. — A ship is said to gather on another as she comes nearer 
to her ; and to gather way when she increases her motion. 

Gimleting. — The action of turning the anchor round by the stock, like 
the motion of a gimlet. 

Girt. — The ship is girt with her cables when she is too tight moored. 

Goose wings of a sail. — The clews or lower corners of a ship's fore- 
sail or mainsail, when the middle part is furled or tied up to the 
yard. 

Grappling iron. — An iron instrument with four or six flooks to it, 
similar to an anchor. 

Grave. — To burn off the filth from a ship's bottom. To bream. 

Gripe of a ship. — That thin part of her stern which is under the 
counter, to which the stern-post joins. 

The ship gripes. — That is, turns her head too much to the wind. 

Grommet. — A piece of rope laid, or twisted in a circular form. Eye- 
let holes. 



81S THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Grounding. — Laying the ship ashore in order to repair her. Running 

aground accidentally. 
Ground tackle. — Every thing belonging to a ship's anchors, and 

necessary for anchoring or mooring, such as cables, hawsers, tow- 
lines, warps, buoy-ropes, &c. 
Ground tier. — The tier of water casks stowed lowest in the hold, 

among the shingle ballast. 
Growing. — Stretching out ; lengthening of the cable by the strain of 

the ship towards her anchors. 
Gun-wale. — The upper edge or rail of a ship's side. 
Gun-room. — A division of the lower deck inclosed with net work, 

for the use of the Gunner and his stores. 
Gybing, or jibeing. — The shifting any boom-sail from one side of the 

ship to the other. 

Hail. — To call to another ship ; or -to a man aloft. 

Halliards. — The ropes by which sails are hauled up or hoisted. 

Handing. — The same as furling. 

Hard-a-weather. — Put the helm quite up to windward. 

Hard down, or hard a-port. — Put the helm quite down to leeward. 

Haul. — Pull. Sometimes improperly called hale. 

To haul the wind. — To direct the ship's course nearer to the point 
from which the wind blows. 

Hawse-holes. — The large round holes in the bows of a ship, close 
to the deck, through which the cables pass. 

Hawser. — A small kind of cable. 

Head-fast. — A rope or hawser used to confine the head of a ship to 
a wharf, &c. 

Head-rails. — Rails or timbers extending from the cat-heads and meet- 
ing or fastened to the cutwater under the bowsprit. 

Head-sails. — All the sails which belong to the foremast and bowsprit. 

Head-sea. — Waves meeting the ship in her course. 

Head to wind. — The head of the ship turned directly to the wind. 

Head-way. — The motion of advancing : opposed to sternway. 

To heave. — To turn about a capstan or windlass with bars, or hand- 
spikes ; to pull upon a rope or cable. 

To heave ahead. — To advance the ship by heaving in the cable or 
other fastening. 

To heave a-peak. — To heave in the cable till the anchor is a-peak. 

To heave astern. — To move a ship backward by a pull upon the 
stern-fasts, similar to heaving a-head. 

To heave down. — To careen. 

To heave in stays. — To bring a ship's head to the wind by a man- 
agement of the sails and rudder, in order to get on the other tack. 

To heave out. — To unfurl or loose a sail : applied more particu- 
larly to the stay-sails — thus : Loose the topsails ; Heave out 
the stay sails. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 319 



To heave short. — To draw the ship over her anchor, by means of 

heaving on the cable. 
To heave taut. — To straiten or tighten the rope by a strong pull. 
To heave the lead. — To cast the lead overboard in order to sound or 

find the depth of water. 
To heave the log. — To throw the log overboard in order to ascertain 

the velocity of the ship. 
To heave the capstan. — To turn it round with bars. 
Heave handsomely. — Heave steadily and gently. 
Heave hearty. — Heave quick and vigorously. 
Heave of the sea. — The swell of the sea and its action upon a ship, 

for which allowance must be made in a day's work. 
Heel, or incline. — Inclination of a ship to one side. 
Heel to port. — When a ship inclines to, or lies down upon her left or 

larboard side. The same as list to port. 
Helm. — The instrument by which a ship is steered, and means either 

the tiller or wheel. 
Helm's a-lee. — Tiller hard down to leeward. 
High and dry. — The situation of a vessel so far run aground as to be 

left dry upon the shore when the tide or water recedes. 
Hitch. — To make fast. 
Hoist. — To haul, sway, or lift up. 
Hold. — The space between the lower deck and the bottom of a ship, 

where her cargo is stowed. 
To stow the hold. — To place the cargo in the hold in a secure man- 
ner. In large ships a stevedore, or a practised stower, is employed 

to stow the cargo. 
To hold her own. — A ship is said to hold her own when by reason 

of strong opposing winds or currents she is unable to advance, but 

does not recede. 
Home. — The proper place of an object. 

To haul home the topsail sheets. — To extend, or haul out the bot- 
tom of the sail to the lower yard, by means of the sheets : To sheet 

home. 
Hulk. — A ship without masts or rigging. Sometimes employed as a 

temporary prison, or store-ship. 
Sheer-hulk. — A vessel employed in the removal of masts into or out 

of ships by means of sheers. 
Flemish-horse. — A rope reaching from the middle of a yard to its 

arms or extremities, for the men to stand on when they are loos- 
ing, reefing, or furling a sail. 
Hull. — The body of a ship. 
To lay a-hull. — To lay to, with only a small sail set, in a gale of 

wind. 
To hull a vessel. — To fire a shot into any part of her hull. 
Hull down.— When a ship is so far off that her hull appears sunk, 

and you can only see her masts. 



820 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 

- a : ___ J 

Hull-to. — The situation of a ship when she lies with all her sails 

furled, as in trying. 

In stays. — To heave in stays. 

Jack. — A sort of flag, or color. 

Jammed, or Jamming. — An object stuck fast, or immovable between 

two bodies. 
Jib. — The foremost sail of a ship, set upon a boom which runs out 

upon the bowsprit, beyond the f ore topmast stay-sail. 
Jib-boom. — The spar that runs out upon the bowsprit. 
Jolly-boat.— A small boat. 
Junk. — Old cable, or old rope. 
Jury-mast. — A temporary spar used as a mast in place of one which 

has been carried away. 

Kedge. — A small anchor,- with an iron stock. 

Keel. — The principal or foundation piece of timber in a ship, which is 
usually first laid down on the blocks in building. 

Keel haul. — To drag a person under a ship's keel ; a brutal English 
punishment now obsolete. 

Keckled. — Any part of a cable covered over with old ropes, to pre- 
vent it from chafing against the ship's bow or fore foot. 

To keep away. — To enlarge the course, or to alter a ship's course for 
one more large, to avoid some object, or danger. Keep away ! is 
likewise the order to the steersman who is apt to go to windward 
of the ship's course. 

To keep full.— -To keep the sails distended by the wind. 

To keep hold of the land. — To steer near to or in sight of the land. 

To keep off.— To sail off,' or keep at a distance from the shore. 

To keep the land aboard. — The same as to keep hold of the land. 

To keep the luff. — To continue close to the wind. 

To keep the wind. — The same as to keep the luff. 

Kelson. — The timber forming the interior of the keel, being laid on the 
middle of the floor-timbers immediately over the keel, and serv- 
ing to unite the former to the latter. 

Kentledge. — Pigs of iron for ballast, laid upon the floor near the kel- 
son, fore and aft. 

Kenk, or Kink. — A twist or turn in a cable or rope. 

Knippers. — A large kind of plaited rope, which, being twisted round 
the messenger and cable in weighing anchor, binds them together. 

Knot. — A division of the log-line, answering, in the calculation of the 
ship's velocity, to one mile. 

To labor. — To roll or pitch heavily in a turbulent sea. 

Laden in bulk. — Freighted with a cargo not packed in casks or boxes, 

but lying loose, as corn, salt, &c. 
Laid up. — A ship when moored in harbor for want of employ. 






VOYAGE THE FIRST. 321 



Landfall. — The first land discovered after a sea voyage. A good 

landfall implies the land expected or desired ; a bad landfall, the 

reverse. 
Land-locked. — Surrounded by land, so as to exclude a prospect of 

the sea. 
Laniards (of the shrouds.) — Small ropes at the ends of the shrouds by 

which they are hove taut, or tight. 
Larboard. — The left side of a ship, looking towards the head. 
Larboard tack. — The situation of a ship when sailing with the wind 

blowing upon her larboard side. 
Launch-ho ! — Signifies that the object is high enough, and must be sud- 
denly lowered. 
Laying the land. — Increasing a ship's distance from the coast, so as 

to sink the shore. 
Leading wind. — A fair wind for a ship's course. 
Leak. — A breach, or open seam in a. ship's side or bottom, through 

which the water enters. 
Lee. — That part of the horizon to which the wind is directed j opposite 

to windward. 
Lee-gage. — A ship or fleet to leeward of another is said to have the 

lee- gage. 
Lee-lurches. — The sudden and violent rolls which a ship often takes 

to leeward, in a high sea, particularly when a high wave takes 

her on the weather side. 
Lee-quarter. — The quarter of a ship on the lee side. 
Lee-shore. — That shore upon which the wind blows. 
To leeward. — Towards that part of the horizon to which the wind 

blows. 
A leeward ship. — A ship that falls much to leeward of her course, 

when sailing close hauled. 
Leeway. — The movement of a ship to leeward of her course ; or the 

angle which the line of her wake makes with a line in the direc- 
tion of her keel. 
To lie along. — To be pressed down sideways by a weight of sail in a 

fresh wind. 
Leeches. — The borders or edges of a sail. 
To lie to. — To retard a ship in her course, by arranging the sails in 

such a manner as to counteract each other with nearly an 

equal effort, so as to render the ship almost motionless in her 

headway. 
Lifts. — The ropes which come to the ends of the yards from the mast 

head, and by which they are suspended when lowered. 
Limbers, or Limber-holes. — Square holes cut through the lower part of 

the ship's floor timbers, near the keel ; forming a channel for 

water and communicating with the pump-well, throughout the 

whole length of the floor. 
List. — Heel, or inclination to one side. 

14* 



822 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Log, and Log-line. — An instrument or contrivance by which the rate 

of a ship's speed is measured or ascertained. 
Log-board, or Log-slate. — A board or slate on which the ship's trans- 
actions are noted, which are copied into the log-book every 24 

hours. 
A long sea. — A uniform motion of long waves. 
Look-out. — A watchful attention. Persons stationed to look out for 

ships, signals, land, &c. 
To loom. — To appear above the surface of the sea or land ; to appear 

larger than the real dimensions ; occasioned by the state of the 

atmosphere. 
To loose. — To unfurl, or cast loose any sail. 
To lower. — To ease down gradually. 
Luff ! — The order to the steersman to put the helm towards the lee 

side of the ship, in order to sail nearer to the wind. 

To make a board. — To run a certain distance upon one tack in beat- 
ing to windward. 

To make foul water. — To muddy the water by running in shal- 
low places, so that the ship's keel disturbs the mud at the 
bottom. 

To make sail. — To increase the quantity of sail already set, either by 
unreefing or by setting others. 

To make stern way. — To retreat, or move with the stern foremost. 

To make the land. — To discover land, or to come up with it. 

To man the yard, &c. — To place men on the yard ; in the tops, &c, 
to execute any necessary duties. 

Mast. — The upright timbers on which the yards and sails are placed. 

Masted. — Having all the ship's masts complete. 

Mend the service. — To put on more service. 

Messenger. — A small kind of cable, which being brought to the cap- 
stan, and the cable, by which the ship rides, made fast to it, brings 
a purchase upon the anchor. 

To middle a rope.- — To double it into two equal parts. 

Midships. — The same as amidships. 

To miss stays. — A ship is said to miss stays when her head will not 
come up into the wind, in order to get her on the other tack. 

Mizzenmast. — The third mast which stands fartherest aft, and from 
which its rigging and sails are named. So also are the other sails 
and rigging named from the other masts. 

Moor. — To secure a ship with anchors. 

Mooring. — Securing a ship by chains or cables to an adjacent shore, 
or by anchors at the bottom. 

Mooring service. — When a ship is moored, and rides at one cable's 
length, the mooring service is that which is at the first splice. 

Mouse. — A kind of ball or knob worked upon the collar of the stays. 

Muster. — To assemble the crew. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 333 



Narrows. — A small passage between two lands. 

Near ! or No near ! — An order to the steersman not to keep the ship 

so close to the wind. 
Nippers. — Pieces of cordage used to fasten the messenger to the cable 

in heaving up the anchor. 
Nothing off ! — An order to the steersman, directing him not to go 

from the wind. 
Nun-buoy. — A kind of buoy used by ships of war. 

Oakum. — Old rope untwisted and pulled open. 

Off and on. — When a ship is beating to windward, so that by one 

board she approaches the shore, and by the other stands out to 

sea, she is said to stand off and on shore. 
Offing. — To seaward from the land. . 
On board. — Within the ship. 
On the beam. — Any distance from the ship, in a line with the beams, 

or at right angles with the keel. 
On the bow. — An arc of the horizon, comprehending about four points 

of the compass on each side of that point to which the ship's head 

is directed. 
On the quarter. — An arc of the horizon comprehending about four 

points of the compass on each side of that point to which the ship's 

stern is directed. 
Open hawse. — When the cables of a ship at her moorings lead strait 

to their respective anchors without crossing. 
Orlop. — The deck on which the cables are stowed. 
Overboard. — Out of the ship. 

Overgrown sea. — When the surges and billows rise extremely high. 
Overhaul. — To clear away and disentangle any rope ; also to come 

up with a chase. 
Over-rake. — -When a ship at anchor is exposed to a head sea, the 

waves breaking in upon her : the waves are then said to over- 
rake her. 
Out of trim. — When a ship is not properly balanced for the purposes 

of navigation. 

To parcel a rope. — To put a quantity of old canvass upon it before 

the service is put on. 
To parcel a seam. — To lay a narrow piece of canvass over it after it 

is caulked and before it is payed with paint or tar. 
Parliament heel. — Inclining a ship to one side. See boot-topping. 
Parting. — Being driven from the anchors by breaking the cable. 
p AWL . — A short bar of wood or iron fixed close to the capstan or 

windlass of a ship to prevent those engines from rolling back, or 

giving way when under a great strain. 
To pawl the capstan. — To fix the pawls so as to prevent the capstan 

from recoiling during any pause of heaving. 



324 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



To pay. — To daub or cover the surface of any body with pitch, 
tar, &c. 

To pay away, or pay out. — To slacken a cable or other rope, so as to 
let it run out gradually. 

To pay off. — To move a ship's head to leeward. 

To peak the yards. — To elevate one end of the yards and depress the 
other to a sharp angle with the mast. 

Peak. — To ride a stay-peak, is when the cable or the fore-stay form a 
line. To ride a short-peak, is when the cable is so much in as to 
destroy the line formed by the stay-peak. To ride with the yards 
a-peak, is to have them topped up by contrary lifts so as to repre- 
sent St. Andrew's cross'. 

Pendant. — The long narrow flag worn at the mast-head. 

Brace pendants. — Ropes which secure the brace blocks to the yard 
arms. 

Broad pendant. — A broad flag terminating in a point, used to distin- 
guish the chief of a squadron. 

Pitching. — The movement of a ship by which she plunges into the 
hollow of the sea. 

Point-blank. — The direction of a gun when levelled horizontally. 

Points. — A number of plaited ropes made fast to the sails for the pur- 
pose of reefing. 

Points of the compass. — See Compass. 

Poop. — The highest and aftermost deck of a ship. 

Pooping. — The shock of a high and heavy sea upon the stern or 
quarter of a ship, when she scuds before the wind in a tempest. 
This shock is also, sometimes, felt very severely while the ship is 
lying to. 

Port. — A name given sometimes to the larboard side of a ship ; 
adopted to avoid mistakes arising from the similarity of the sound 
of larboard and starboard. Also a harbor or haven. 

Ports. — The square holes in' a ship's side from which the guns are fired. 

Port the helm !■ — The order to put the helm over to the larboard side. 

Port-last. — The gunwale. 

Press of sail. — All the sail that a ship can set or carry. 

Preventer. — An additional rope or brace employed at times to support 
any other, when the latter suffers an unusual strain, particularly 
when blowing fresh or in a gale of wind. 

Pudding and dolphin. — A large and lesser pad made of ropes, and put 
round the mast under the lower yards. 

Purchase. — Any mechanical power employed in raising or moving 
heavy bodies. 

Quarters. — The respective stations of the officers and people on board 

a ship of war in time of action. 
Quarter-bill. — The list of the ship's company with their stations for 

action noted. » - 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 325 



Quarter-wind. — Wind blowing from that part of the horizon situated 
on the quarter of the ship. 

To raise. — To elevate any object at sea by approaching it. Thus to 
raise the land is used in opposition to lay the land. 

To rake.^-To cannonade at the stern or head, so that the balls scour 
the whole length of the decks. 

Rake. — The inclination of the masts to the horizon. 

Range of cable. — A sufficient length of cable drawn upon deck, 
before the anchor is cast loose, to admit of its sinking to the bot- 
tom without any check. 

Ratlines. — Small ropes fastened to the shrouds by which the men go 
aloft. 

Ready about ! — A command to the crew, and implies that all the 
hands are to be attentive and at their stations for tacking. 

Reef. — Part of a sail, from one row of eyelet holes to another. A 
chain of rocks lying near the surface of the water. 

Reefing. — The operation of reducing a sail by taking in one or more 
reefs. 

To reeve. — To pass the end of a jope through any hole, or the chan- 
nel of a block, &c. 

Rendering. — The giving way or yielding to the efforts of some 
mechanical power. It is used in opposition to jamming or 
sticking. 

Ribs of a ship. — Her side-timbers. 

Rigging. — A general name given to all the ropes employed to support 
the mast, or to extend or reduce the sails, or for any other purpose 
either standing or running. 

Righting. — Restoring a ship to an upright position. 

To right the helm. — To bring it amid-ships. 

Rigging out a boom. — The running out a pole at the end of a yard, to 
extend a studding-sail. 

To rig the capstan. — To fix the bars in their respective holes. 

Road. — A place near the land where ships may anchor, which is 
open to the sea, or not sheltered or land-locked. 

Robands, or Rope-bands.— Short flat pieces of plaited rope, having an 
eye worked at one end. They are used in pairs to tie the upper 
edges of the square sails to their respective yards. 

Rough-tree. — A name applied to a spar placed as a rail above the ves- 
sel's side, from the quarter deck to the forecastle. 

Rounding in. — The pulling upon any rope which passes through one 
or more blocks in a horizontal direction — as round in the weather 
braces. 

Rounding, — Old ropes fastened on the cable, near the anchor, to keep 
it from chafing. 

Rounding-up. — Similar to rounding in, except that it is applied per- 
pendicularly. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Rousing. — Pulling upon a cable or rope without the assistance of 
tackles. 

To row. — To move a boat with oars. 

Rudder. — The machine by which a ship is steered. 

Rowlock. — The niche in a boat's side in which the oar is used. 

Run. — The aftermost part of a ship's bottom, where it grows extremely 
narrow as the stern approaches the stern-post. Run is also the 
distance sailed by a ship ; and is also used by sailors to imply a 
single passage from one place to another in contradistinction to a 
voyage out and back to port. 

To run out a warp. — To carry the end of a rope out from a ship in a 
boat, and fasten it to some distant object. 

To sag to leeward. — To make considerable leeway. 

Sailing trim. — A ship's best state for sailing. 

She sands, or Sends. — When the ship's head or stern falls deep in the 
trough of the sea. 

Scud. — To go right before the wind; and going in this direction with- 
out any sail set is called spooning. 

Scuttling. — Cutting holes through the sides or bottom of a ship in 
order to sink her. 

Sea. — A large wave. The term is applied generally to the ocean ; and 
also to smaller bodies of water. 

Sea-boat. — A vessel that bears the sea firmly. A good sea boat ; one 
that behaves well at sea. 

Sea-mark. — A point or object on shore conspicuously seen at sea. 

Sea-room. — A sufficient distance from the coast for unrestrained 
action or nautical operations. 

Seize. — To bind or make fast. 

Serve. — To wind something about a rope or cable to prevent its chaf- 
ing. Service, the thing wound about the rope or cable. 

Setting. — The act of observing the situation of any distant object by 
the compass. 

To set sail. — To unfurl and expand the sails to the wind. 

To set up. — To tighten or increase the tension of the shrouds, 
backstays and standing rigging generally, by tackles, lan- 
yards, &c. 

Settle. — To lower. 

Shank. — The beam or shaft of the anchor. 

Shank-painter. — The rope by which the shank of the anchor is held 
up to the ship's side. It is also made fast to a piece of iron chain 
in which the shank of the anchor lodges. 

To shape a course.- — To direct or appoint the track of a ship, for the 
prosecution of a voyage. 

Sheer. — The sheer of a ship is the curve between the head and the 
stern, upon her side. 

To sheer off. — To keep off, or remove to a distance. 






VOYAGE THE FIRST. 327 



Sheers.— Spars lashed together, and raised up, for the purpose of 

getting a mast out or in. 
Sheet. — A rope fastened to the lower corners of a sail in order to 

extend and retain it in a particular, situation. 
To sheet home. — To haul the sheets of a sail home to the end of the 

yard. 
To shift the helm. — To alter its position from right to left, or from 

left to right. 
To ship. — To take any person, goods or thing on board. To fix any 

thing in its proper place ; as to ship the oars, that is to fix them in 

their row-locks. 
Ship-shape. — In a seaman-like manner. 
Shoal. — Shallow. 
Shoe of the anchor. — A small block of wood, convex on the back, 

with a hole to receive the point of the anchor-nook on the other 

side. It is used to prevent the anchor from tearing the planks on 

the ship's bow when ascending or descending. 
To shoot ahead. — To advance. 

Shore. — The general name of the sea-coast of any country. 
To shorten sail. — To reduce or take in the sails. 
Shrouds. — A range of large ropes extended from the mast heads to the 

right and left sides of a ship, to support the masts and enable them 

to carry sail. 
Sinnett. — A small plaited rope made from rope yarns. 
Slack- water. — The interval between the flux and reflux of the tide, 

when no motion is perceptible in the water. 
To slip the cable. — To let it run quite out when there is not time to 

weigh the anchor. 
To slue. — To turn a piece of timber or other body about its axis. To 

turn it round. 
Sound. — To try the depth of water. 

Sounding line.- — A line to sound with, marked off by fathoms. 
Spanker. — The aftermost fore-and-aft sail of a ship. 
To spill.— To disharge the wind out of the belly of a sail, when it is 

drawn up in the brails in order to furl or reef it. 
Spilling lines.-— Ropes contrived to keep the sails from being blown 

away when they are clewed up in blowing weather. 
Splice. — To make two ends of rope fast together by untwisting them, 

and then weaving the strands of one piece with the strands of the 

other. 
Split. — A sail rent by the violence of the wind. 
Spoon-drift. — A sort of showery sprinkling of the sea- water swept 

from the surface of the waves in a tempest, and flying like vapor 

before the wind. 
Spray. — The sprinkling of a sea, driven occasionally from the top of a 

wave, and not continual like spoon-drift. 



3-23 THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



To spring A mast, yard, &c. — To crack them by means of straining in 

blowing weather, so that they are rendered unsafe for use. 
To spring a leak. — When a leak first commences, a ship is said to 

spring a leak. 
To spring the luff. — A ship is said to spring her luff when she yields 

to the helm by sailing nearer to the wind than before. 
Spring-tides. — The tides at new and full moon, which flow highest 

and ebb lowest. These occur when the sun and moon are in oppo- 
sition or in conjunction. Neap tides, which occur in the first and 

last quarter of the moon, or when the sun and moon -are in quadra- 
ture, neither rise so high nor fail so low as the spring tides. 
Squall. — A sudden, violent blast of wind. 
Square. — A term applied to yards that are very long ; as taunt is 

applied to masts that are very tall. 
To square the yards. — To brace the yards so that they may hang at 

right angles with the keel. 
To stand on. — To continue advancing. To stand in ; to advance 

towards the shore. To stand off ; to recede from the shore. 
Starboard. — The right-hand side of the ship when looking forward. 
Starboard tack. — A ship is said to be on the starboard tack when 

sailing, with the wind blowing upon her starboard side. 
Starboard the helm ! — An order to put the helm to the starboard 

side. 
To stay a ship. — To arrange the sails and move the rudder so as to 

bring the ship's head to the direction of the wind, in order to get 

her on the other tack. 
Stays. — Large ropes coming from the mast heads down before the 

masts, to prevent them from springing, when the ship is sending 

deep. 
Steady ! — The order to the helmsman to keep the ship in the direction 

she is going at that instant. 
Steering. — The art of directing the ship's way by the movement of 

the helm. 
Steerage-way. — Such a degree of progressive motion of a ship as 

will give effect to the helm. 
Stem. — The timber into which the two sides of a ship are united at the 

fore-end. The lower end is scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit 

rests on the upper end. 
To stem the tide. — When a ship is sailing against the tide at such a 

rate as to overcome its power. 
Steeve. — Turning up. The bowsprit steeves too much ; that is, it is too 

upright. 
Sternfast. — A rope used to confine a ship by her stern to another 

ship, or to a wharf. 
Sternmost. — The farthest astern. 
Stern- way. — The motion by which a ship falls back with her stern 

foremost. 



VOYAGE THE FIRST. 329 



Stiff. — The condition of a ship when she will carry a great quantity 

of sail without hazard of oversetting. It is used in opposition to 

crank. 
Stoppers. — Large ropes, which being fastened to the cable in different 

places abaft the bitts, are an additional security to the ship at 

anchor. 
To stow. — To arrange and dispose a ship's cargo. 
Strand. — One of the twists or divisions of which a rope is composed. 

The sea beach. 
Stranded. — This term, applied to a cable or rope, signifies that one of 

its strands is broken. Applied to a vessel it means that she is run 

aground and is lost. 
To stream the buoy. — To let it fall from the ship's side into the 

water, previously to casting anchor. 
Stretch out ! — A command to the men in a boat to pull strongly. 
To strike. — To lower or let down anything. 

To strike soundings. — To touch bottom when endeavoring to ascer- 
tain the depth of water. 
Studding sails. — Outer sails stretched upon booms projecting from the 

yards. 
Surf.— The swell of the sea that breaks upon the shore. 
To surge the capstan. — To slacken the rope heaved round upon it. 
Sway away. — To hoist. 

Swell. — The undulating motion of the sea, during or after a storm. 
Sweeping. — Dragging the bight or loose part of a rope at the bottom, 

in order to drag up something lost. 
Swinging. — The turning of a ship round her anchor at the change of 

wind or tide. 

To tack. — To turn a ship about from one tack to another. 

Tacks and sheets. — When a ship sails with a side wind the lower 
corners of the main and fore-sails are fastened by a tack and a 
sheet; the former being to windward and the latter to leeward. 
The tack is never used with a stern wind ; whereas the sail is 
never spread without the use of one or both of the sheets. The 
staysails and studding sails have only one tack and one sheet each. 
The staysail tacks are fastened forward, and the sheets drawn aft ; 
but the studding sail-tacks draw the outer corner of the sail to the 
extremity of the boom, while the sheet is employed to extend the 
inner corner. 

Tafferel, or Taffrail. — The uppermost part of a ship's stern. 

Taking in. — The act of furling the sails. The opposite of setting 
sail. 

Tompion, or Tomkin. — The bung or piece of wood by which the mouth 
of a cannon is filled to keep out the wet. 

Tarpaulin. — A cloth of canvass covered with tar or some other com- 
position, so as to make it water-proof. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Taut. — Tight : — (corruptly written taught.) 

Taunt. — High or tall. Applied to masts of extraordinary length. 

Tell-tale. — An instrument which traverses upon an index in front of 
the poop deck to show the position of the tiller. 

Thwart. Thwartships. — See Athwart and Athwartships. 

To tide. — To work in or out of a river, harbor or channel, by favor of 
the tide, anchoring whenever it becomes adverse. 

Tier. — A row; as a tier of guns; a tier of casks; a tier of ships. 

Tier of cable ; a range of the fakes or windings of a cable laid within 
one another in a horizontal position. 

Cable-tier. — The place in which cable is coiled. 

Tiller. — A large piece of wood or beam put into the head of the rud- 
der, by means of which the rudder is moved. 

Topping. — Pulling one of the ends of a yard higher than the other. 

To tow. — To draw a ship or other object in the water by a rope. 

Tow-line. — A small hawser or rope, used to move a ship from one 
part of a harbor to another. 

Transoms. — Certain beams or timbers extended across the stern post of 
a ship, to strengthen her after part, and to give it the figure most 
suitable to the service for which she is intended. 

Traverse. — To go backward and forward. 

Tree-nails, or Trunnels. — Long wooden pins employed to connect or 
fasten the planks of a ship's side and bottom to the timbers. 

Trice ; trice up. — To haul up and fasten. 

Trim. — The state of a ship best calculated for sailing. 

To trim the hold. — To arrange the cargo regularly. 

To trim the sails. — To dispose the sails in the best manner for sail- 
ing the ship on her course. 

To trip the anchor. — To loosen the anchor from the ground. 

Trough of the sea. — The hollow between the waves. 

Truck. — A round piece of wood placed on the top of a flag-staff, with 
sheaves for the halliards of the flag to reeve in. 

Trysail. — The after fore and aft sail of a brig, similar to the spanker 
of a ship. 

Turning to windward. — The operation in sailing by which a ship 
endeavors to advance against the wind. 

To unballast. — To discharge the ballast from a ship. 

To unbend. — To take the sails off from their yards and stays. To 
cast loose the anchor from the cable : to untie two ropes. 

To unbitt.— To remove the turns of a cable from off the bitts. 

Under foot. — Is expressed of an anchor that is directly under the ship. 
Fore-foot ; under the bows. 

Under sail, or under way. — A ship sailing is said to be under way. 

Under the lee of a shore. — Close under the shore which lies to wind- 
ward of the ship. 

Unfurl. — To cast loose the gasket of the sail, 






VOYAGE THE FIRST. 331 



To unmoor. — To reduce the ship to the state of riding at a single 

anchor, after she has been moored. 
To unreeve. — To draw any running gear from the blocks. 
To unrig. — To deprive the ship of her rigging. 
Uvron. — The piece of wood by which the crow-foot is extended. 

Van. — The foremost division of a fleet j sometimes the foremost ship 

of a division. 
Vane. — A small kind of flag worn at each mast-head. 
To veer, or wear ship. — To change a ship's course from one tack to the 

other, by turning her stern to windward. 
To veer. — To let out : as Veer away the cable. 
To veer. — To shift; as, the wind veers ; that is, it shifts or changes. 
To veer. — To pull taut and slacken alternately. 
Viol, or voyal. — A block which is lashed to the cable and through 

which a hawser is rove to heave up the anchor : (i.e.) when you 

have no messenger. 

Wake. — The path or track impressed on the water by the ship's pass- 
ing through it, leaving a streak of smoothness in the sea. A ship 
is said to come into the wake of another when she follows her in 
the same track. 

Wales. — Strong timbers that go round a ship a little above her water- 
line. 

Warp. — A small rope employed occasionally to move a ship from one 
place to another. 

To warp. — To move a ship by means of a warp. 

Watch. — Part of a ship's crew. When a ship's company is divided 
into watches for alternate duty on deck, one is called the Star- 
board and the other the Larboard watch, the Captain selecting 
one, and the first officer the other. They relieve each other every 
four hours at night, varied however, by the introduction of a 
short watch of two hours called the Dog-watch. 

Waist. — That part of a ship contained between the quarter-deck and 
the forecastle. 

Water-line. — The line made by the water's edge when a ship is 
light, or when she has only her stores and ballast on board. 

Water-logged. — When a ship becomes heavy and inactive on the sea 
from the great quantity of water in her hold. 

Water tight, or tight. — The state of a ship not leaky. 

To weather. — To get to windward of any thing. 

Weather beaten. — Shattered or injured by a storm. 

To weigh anchor. — To heave up the anchor from the bottom. 

To wind a ship. — To change her position, bringing her head where 
her stern was. 

Windlass. — A strong mechanic power, placed forward in a ship, used 
principally to heave up the anchor. 



THE ROMANCE OF YACHTING. 



Wind's eye. — The point from which the wind hlows. 

To windward. — Towards that part of the horizon from which the 

wind blows. 
Windward tide.- -A tide that sets to windward. 
To work ship. — To direct the movements of a ship by adapting the 

sails and managing the rudder so as to carry the ship on her 

course. 
To work to windward. — To make progress against the direction of 

the wind. 

Yacht. — A pleasure vessel. 
Yachting. — Sailing in a yacht. 

Yards. — The spars of a ship upon which the sails are spread. 
Yawing. — The irregular motion of a ship when she deviates from her 
course to right and left. 



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